Decluttr is a website and app that allows users to sell tech items, including smartphones. You can receive an instant rating and send the sold device. With the iPhone 13 and the The Pixel 6 line will be available soon in a few weeks, maybe now is a good time to get rid of some older phones to raise money for your new purchases. Today, decluttr has released its annual phone depreciation report.
Most iPhone models drop 20% three months after launch of next model
Decluttr points out that just as a car depreciates the moment it leaves the dealership’s lot, a phone starts to lose value as soon as it’s out of the box. The company surveyed 2,000 phone users in the United States about how they handle exchanges and combined the results with its own depreciation data.
Data shows that 46% of phone owners don’t trade in their device at the same time as they switch to a new handset and instead wait an average of 10 weeks. During this time, the traded-in device typically decreases by 33% or $ 73 in value. With the average person making 38 transactions in their lifetime, that means around $ 2,700 is lost through procrastination when a smartphone owner no longer needs the device.
So why are so many people delaying trading their phone? The survey shows that 23% have no idea that a delay decreases the value of their phone. Maybe we can take this group to be innocent of not knowing it. But an additional 11% are playing, and this group mistakenly thinks that the longer they keep their old phone, the more money it will be worth. Now, it might work with some phones that might be of interest to collectors, like a 2007 OG iPhone, but it won’t add value to your Galaxy S20.
Decluttr says that on average, launching a new iPhone causes the value of the previous model to drop 12% after the first month and 20% after three months. When the iPhone 12 series launched last year, the iPhone 11 dropped 15% and 20% after one month and three months respectively. If the typical depreciation continues with the launch of the iPhone 13 series, after one month each of the iPhone 12 models will lose 12% and after three months the value of each model will drop by 20%.
If depreciation occurs as in the past, all four iPhone 12 models will lose value by 12% after one month and 20% after three months.
31% of phone owners in the US don’t trade in their phones at all, leaving older handsets to collect dust in a drawer. These phones are losing value and also creating what decluttr calls electronic waste that could eventually end up in landfills across the country. Unsurprisingly, it is the elderly who are more inclined to refrain from swapping their phones.
Apple iPhones historically drop 49% in value after one year and 66% in two years
As many of you know, the iPhone holds its value better than the competition. On average, the iPhone loses 49% of its value over 12 months and 66% over 24 months. This compares to a Samsung Galaxy phone which loses on average 65% of its value after one year and 79% after two years.
Oneplusphones lose 72% in the first 12 months and 80% over 24 months. Finally, the Google Pixel series loses in value by 64% on average after one year, and after two years, this drop is 80%.
The top eight models that have retained the most value after 12 months are all iPhones with the iPhone 11 in the lead. The latter’s valuation has fallen by 37% over the past 12 months. IPhone XS Max and iPhone 11 Pro Max are next, both dropping 43% in value. The last two models in the top ten were both Pixels, with the Pixel 3a sliding by 52% and the Pixel XL by 53%.
The phones that lost the most value over 12 months led the Pixel 2 (-77%), Pixel 3 (-73%), Pixel 3 XL (-73%), and Pixel 2 XL (- 72%).
