“In line with our earlier report, Apple has just kicked off a big iPhone trade-in event at its U.S. retail stores that will see employees pushing upgrade offers for the iPhone 5s and 5c,” Jordan Kahn reports for 9to5Mac. “We first reported on details of the event earlier this week noting Apple would add improved trade in options and significantly step up promotion of iPhone trade-ins during the initiative.”
“Apple is now offering up to $99 for an iPhone 4 and $199 for an iPhone 4s,” Kahn reports. “With that value put toward the purchase of a new iPhone 5s, Apple is promoting the deal as being able to upgrade to an iPhone 5s for as little as $0.”
Kahn reports, “In addition to getting employees to promote the trade-in event in stores, Apple is also sending out emails to eligible iPhone 4s and iPhone 4 customers we’ve learned.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Related article:
Apple plans ‘enormous’ iPhone upgrade event in retail stores this week to boost sales – May 6, 2014
Not sure why you would want your potential upgrade customers to upgrade prior to the iPhone 6 launch. Perhaps they are worried about meeting the demand of the new phone orders or they want quarter sales to not drop with new phone expectations.
As far as Apple is concerned, there is no such thing as the iPhone 6. You must focus on current product only. Have you learned nothing from Steve? That’s why he’d come out and bash an idea or feature as Apple designers and engineers put the finishing touches on the very same thing he’d just lambasted. Until it’s ready to be put on sale, it doesn’t exist.
And the 5S is a wonderful iPhone to upgrade to.
This makes perfect sense. All the talk about iPhone 6 has likely slowed down the movement of iPhones just a bit (as it always did in prior years in anticipation of the new model). This will kick it back up a bit, and it just might product double sales this year. Some people, with expiring contracts, may decide, after seeing this campaign, to upgrade to 5s (or 5c) after all, and then when the 6 comes in the fall, upgrade again, just to have the latest, and pass the (almost new) 5s on to a family member.
Whenever any kind of discounting is offered by the manufacturer (whether a direct discount, or special trade-in offer, or some other incentive), it indicates that the sales volume is NOT where they would want it to be.
And Europe??
Great deal!! But I have a iPhone 5. Do they give me $99. lol
I have a phone provided by my employer through Verizon, anyone know can I trade my iPhone 4S in a for a 5S? Is it simply a trade and done, no changes to plans and stuff?
I currently have a 4s which serves me well. An upgrade would cost me about $350. Sorry. NO DEAL! I do not do cell phone contracts. My non contract service has already saved me enough money that I could toss the 4s in the garbage and still be ahead compared to the normal two year contract deals at that time. Now, I save at least $30 a month, every month, and actually get more text messages and data than with a the more expensive contract service. I will keep my 4s and my money, they can keep the 5c, 5s, and their two year contract.
Completely agree. I got my 4S on a contract shortly after it came out. By the time my contract was up, there was actually LESS value in the newer contracts! The 5S didn’t have any killer features for me so I went off contract and kept the 4S. I get more data now and I can swap the handset whenever I want.
Sadly the model of 6 I would want to buy outright will very likely cost over $1000 here in Australia. But if you’re savvy you can get better value than plans now anyway.
On eBay, iPhone 4s can be sold for $150 – 250 today. This indicates that Apple’s trade-in offer is actually remarkably good. Usually, trade-in offers (either by manufacturers, or by retailers/dealers) are half the actual market value on eBay (or the Blue Book, or whatever the benchmark for second-hand products).
You don’t need a contract in order to upgrade your iPhone. 4S is 3 years old. It is showing its age. You could upgrade it for $250 (to 5c) or 350 (for 5s), or you could wait until 6 comes out, and then try to unload your 4s on your own (assuming Apple’s offer won’t be on the table anymore by then).
This offer has nothing to do with a two-year contract. And yes, pre-paid, no-contract plans are much cheaper than AT&T/Sprint/Verizon plans. The phones cost the same, though; it is just the matter of how you pay for them (up-front, or spread over 2 years).
Remember when Blackberry use to offer deals and MDN use to say the only reason why they sold was because of the promos? This is why the iPhone is selling now… because of the PROMOS! Who wants a small sized dated dual core processor with 64 bits that is so slow feeling? No one. Apple and Mr. Cook are going against Steve Jobs and his wishes that no one needs a larger display than 3.5 inches! Clearly, I can not wait for Apple to bite themselves in the A$$ when they release a bigger phone because of INCREASED COMPETITION!
I’m stuck on iPhone 4 indefinitely or else I’ll lose my unlimited data plan with Verizon (which was initially offered to lure AT&T iPhone customers away.) Had I stayed with AT&T, I’d be able to upgrade AND keep the unlimited data plan, but my cell signal coverage area would still be crap.
I stayed with AT&T and have kept unlimited data. Coverage has improved radically over the past couple of years, especially for data. Of course it depends on where you are, but I also have had a Verizon based iPad (various models) since the iPad 2 and find that AT&T almost always has better speeds and more coverage.
You might want to check your data usage and compare it to their tiered rated plans. I think a lot of people are “keeping unlimited” but would be better off switching.
I obviously have no idea how much data you’re using, coverage in your area or how you use your iPhone, but I’d imagine to some degree a switch would be offset by the improvements of a new iPhone (if not the 5S maybe the 6).
Maybe they ran out of iPhone 4 and 4s models for China and India, and decided that they could churn the US market for some refurbs, while at the same time reducing demand for the 6, which is expected in the next 3-5 months (since recent 5c,5s upgraders will be less-likely to go back in so soon.
And if they can sell the 4 and 4s models cheaply enough, they can lock more consumers into the iTunes ecosystem (from which leaving can be more difficult).