Price of older iPhones drops in wake of announcement

iPhone /

For those in need of iPhone repair services for an older device, now is the time to start fixing it up for sale, according to Jason O'Grady of the ZDNet Apple Core blog. According to new information from uSell.com, a website for the sale of used electronics, those who want to sell their device can likely make an extra $72 by making arrangements to sell them before Apple's media event on September 10. This event will likely be to announce a new iPhone, so it only makes sense that the price is poised to drop a bit after this.

According to uSell, one week after an iPhone launch, the old device loses about 5 percent in value. Two weeks after the launch, about 12 percent of the used sale price is lost, and within three to four weeks, these old smartphones are worth 20 percent less. By finalizing a sale price prior to an upcoming iPhone launch, those with an iPhone 5 can make about $72 more, those with an iPhone 4S can capture $46 more, and an iPhone 4 will bring in $29 more. 

“The pro tip is to lock in your quote with one of the big three above before September 10, but wait to ship your old iPhone until day 29 or 30,” he wrote on the blog. “Hopefully you'll have your new iPhone 5S or 5C by then.”

Old devices new sales
Even with the new devices likely driving down the price of used iPhones, Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconagh​i said the market for the used Apple smartphones is also burgeoning, possibly enough to cut into the sales of the newest devices.

The smartphone market will rise from 53 million phones annually to 257 in the next few years, he said, adding that iPhones make up more than half of the resold smartphone market, clearly the most popular device of the day. However, people have been buying them for years and the older devices are good enough for many consumers. This led Sacconaghi to conclude that the used market may cannibalize new sales at up to 20 percent per year and increasing.

“We believe that the used smartphone market today is having a modest impact on Apple – we estimate that the cannibalization rate of new iPhones from used units is low (~ 20 percent), and that most used iPhones are sold to users who might otherwise have bought a lower priced smartphone from another OEM,” Sacconagh​i said.

If someone has a used device they still want to keep around, iResQ offers quality and professional iPhone repair services.

Have no product in the cart!
0