Through 2019-2020, cell phone trade-in site BankMyCell tracked almost 300 phones’ resale values from multiple vendors hourly, finding that Apple iPhone destroys Android in new smartphone depreciation.
In the first year, on average, Apple iPhones depreciated by just -23.45%; by year two, the total loss is -45.46%. For those who blew $700+ on an Android “flagship” phone, their one-year depreciation -45.18%, the same as the average iPhone’s two-year loss! In two years, the average Android “flagship” phone loses an average of –71.41% of its original resale value, -45.18% (year one) and -47.85% in the second year.
Those who settle for budget Android junk have it even worse: They lose half their value in year one! In two years, the average budget Android phone would lose –79.66% of its original resale value, -48.65% and year two -44.26%. Using these average losses, a budget Android released at $299 would only be worth around $27 for trade-in after 3 years.
2018’s iPhones Only Lost 23.45% of Their Resale Value, Unlike the S10 The three iPhones released in 2018 make up 15.29% of trade-in on the site, and it’s no surprise, as they only lost an average of 23.45% in 2019, so consumers get buyback offers that make upgrades affordable.
• Apple’s iPhone XR shed just -21.55% of its trade-in value in the whole of 2019, compared with the Samsung Galaxy S10e plummeting -37.98% in only 9 months.
• iPhone XS depreciated by only -23.31% of its trade-in value in the whole of 2019, compared with the Galaxy S10 losing -43.78% in only 9 months.
• iPhone XS Max reduced its trade-in value by just 25.51% in the whole of 2019, compared with the Galaxy S10+ losing -45.26% in only 9 months.
– Devices on the Android OS were the only phones to lose over $180 up to $373 in 2019.
– The Galaxy S10+ lost the most value in 2019, with -$373 dropping off its value The Google Pixel 3 lost $267 (-56.70%) of its resale value after only being released in Nov-2018
– Android dominates in the top 10 depreciating phones of 2019 that got released in 2018, with losses ranging from 52.38% (Pixel 3 XL) to 75.84% (Motorola One)
MacDailyNews Take: Android dominates in the top 10 depreciating phones of 2019. Hey, at least Android dominates in something besides amassing wasted dollars from cheapskates and/or the ignorati.
If it’s not an iPhone, it’s not an iPhone.
Newer resold a phone in my life. Not relevant to me.
Yet here you are proving hypocrisy by taking time out to comment.
What a sad life you must lead. Seriously. I drop in here once a month or so, and you’re here every time, helplessly bowing before your compulsion.
Just rebutting some petty hubris. I bought my S20 Ultra today. Could otherwise care less.
Psssttt….
Not sadder than defending a company.
Yeah, but some people always got a beef about Apple initially charging too much for iPhones and never give a thought to lower depreciation. Too many people never think further than their own nose. Most Apple products I have owned lasted a long time and that’s something I really like. It’s better for the ecology and in the long-run may be less costly than buying a cheaper product which has a shorter usable life. However, I still hear some people saying how Apple builds obsolescence into their products because they’re not user upgrade-able. From that viewpoint, on some their products such as desktops and laptops, maybe that’s true. If you could easily upgrade some components, then the product would surely be useful for quite a bit longer.
However, when it comes to smartphones, Apple will never come close to matching Android smartphone sales thanks to the lower cost of Android smartphones. I suppose most people using Android smartphones don’t care if they can’t upgrade the OS or keep the smartphone for a longer period of time. Apple simply doesn’t seem to concern itself about selling to the masses and prefers to focus on a growing number of users on the iOS ecosystem.
But think of your children!
Glad to be a cheapskate for cell phones…one of the biggest budget suckers of our day, between hardware, short life-cycles (due to software obsolescence forcing upgrades), and phone and data plan costs. In fact, I even go out of my way to buy the previous years’ model (often 2-3 yrs back but new) at a discount and stretch it’s usage for several years. Like a car, lose most of the depreciation in the first 2-3 yrs.
Still have 2 iPhone 4s’, 1 LG G4, 1 Samsung Galaxy S8 (most recent acquisition) and even still have a working Alcatel “dumb” phone with keypad. Work just fine for use (though admittedly, the iPhone 4s is starting to get obsolete because more apps refuse to run on it…so those will need to go…though happily still pushing the boundary.