“Priceonomics, a site that helps people determine fair value for almost anything from cars to baby strollers, has some answers as well as some purchase tips when looking considering a new smartphone,” Ryan Faas reports for Cult of Mac.
“Priceonomics has been compiling a pricing guide for mobile phones and recently used that data to determine not just the value of many used models but also their rates of depreciation or how quickly smartphones lose their resale value,” Faas reports. “They packaged all that data into a report that is good news for iPhone owners and not so good news for owners of every other platform.”
Faas reports, “The results dramatically show iPhones holding notbly more resale value. After 18 months, an iPhone will be worth 53% of its initial price while Android and BlackBerry devices will only be worth an average of 42% and 41% respectively.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dominick P.” for the heads up.]
The only value Android phones have after your contract is over is the value of the recyclable plastic used to make it.
So do Macs, iPods, Apple TV, and iPads
Glorious *DING* Factor. No surprise here.
I recently sold my iPhone 4 for $300 cash, and with the $100 gift certificate from Apple I had from x-mas, I got the 64GB 4s for just the tax (about $30). Definitely a good deal for me! So, if my calculations are right, my iPhone 4 retained 67% of its value.
Actually, not quite. If your iPhone 4 was the base (16GB) version, its retail price was $650. If you got $300 for it, that is around 46% of the original purchase price. Even if you add $100 you got from Apple, the $400 value is still just 61%.
The must important thing, though, is that unlike many others who demote their old iPhones to the iPod service, you passed yours on, got enough money from it to cover the newer model, and consider it a good value. You probably could have squeezed a bit more cash out of it (depending on its condition), but it really doesn’t matter much.
In the past three months I have sold a dozen iPhones — 3G, 3GS and 4 — for friends and family. The 4 16gb brought $300, the 3GSs $200-$220. Even the 3G models went for $120 and up. iPhones are gold.
my iPad 64Gb / 3G is available – how much is it worth?
Not only do they retain value, they also retain “usefulness.” An iPhone 3GS is still sold as a new product, and runs the latest iOS. I have an original iPhone (bought used), and although it does not run iOS 5, I find it eminently useful.
Long-term value and usefulness go hand-in-hand.
ken1w: “Not only do they retain value, they also retain ‘usefulness.’ ”
The two are just opposite sides of the same coin. If iPhones were no longer useful, they wouldn’t retain their market value.
The plastic, glass and components of an iPhone don’t stand up any better than an Android phone. The difference is the upgrades in iOS that DO work with older iPhones, while upgrades to Android frequently do NOT work with older Samsung (etc.) phones.
Evidently the ability to update the operating system on phones is worth about 10% of their original selling price — say, $30.
Bought my wife a used 3GS because she is on T-Mobile and didn’t need anything fancier. Still $150 plus $40 to unlock.
In other news: when it rains, the pavement gets wet.
Bought my 32GB iPhone4 in June 2010 from ATT for the subsidized price of $299. I became eligible to upgrade to a 4S in Nov 2011 which I did. Again, it cost me $299 for the 32GB version. But I was able to sell my “old” iPhone4 for $350. So, it was a free upgrade. I expect to do the same with the iPhone5. Gotta love this system.
For those interested, here is a link to the source article at pri¢eonomic$:
http://priceonomics.com/phones/#cell-phone-depreciation
When it is raining in September then Christmas will be in December…
Since they review all kinds of products, you may find referring to them a habit as time goes by.
Overall, the 2008 BOB Revolution Stroller gets a very nice “thumbs up”.
It features a multi-position, reclining seat (up to 60 degrees) that allows your baby to rest well on it and fesel amazingly comfortable.