iPhone Depreciation

I was going to buy a new iPhone for myself this year, but I got to thinking... how much does an iPhone depreciate over time?

I went to eBay and figured out how much the value of "yesteryear's" unlocked flagship iPhone with a basic memory upgrade falls over time. For example, we know that a used, unlocked iPhone Z with xx GB of storage has a specific value on the open market. I plotted the value of all the flagship phones out in order to visualize how much the value of an iPhone decays with time.

In short, and very roughly, a new phone's value falls by about a 33% after it's first year, and by about 25% more after it's second year. After those first two years, phone depreciation seems to smooth out to a fairly steady 10% percent per year.

Chart 1: iPhone Depreciation Over Time

So the first two years of ownership are the most expensive. The longer I can hold onto my current iPhone, the fewer "first + second year depreciation events" I'll have to pay for. As expected, it pays to not upgrade until I really have to, and if I do upgrade, a used 2+ year old phone will often be the most economical choice.

Obviously, new phones do have new and perhaps important features. And old phones eventually need new batteries. And very old phones no longer receive security updates. All of those variables will influence the personal value that a new phone could bring to me.

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The Lance J. Technoweb

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