Apple Slashes iPhone Trade-In Values Again, Here’s What Your Phone Is Worth Now
For the second time in around two months, Apple has gone and altered the trade-in values for many of its mobile products, including another round of disappointing devaluations for its iPhone lineup. While not all iPhone models are affected, many of them are, and that includes the previous generation flagship iPhone 13 Pro Max (the iPhone 14 Pro Max is the current generation flagship). In fact, it was one of the hardest hit by Apple's latest adjustments to trade-in values.
Just before the holiday season, trading in the iPhone 13 Pro Max to Apple would have been worth up to $720, assuming it was in good shape and was able to power on. Then in the first half of November, Apple slashed the trade-in value to $650. Now two months later, the most an iPhone 13 Pro Max will fetch from Apple through its trade-in program is $570.
So in the span of about 11 weeks, Apple's flagship smartphone has seen its trade-in value drop by $150, which is nearly a 21 percent reduction at the top end. Meanwhile, the non-Max iPhone 13 Pro's trade-in value has dropped from $600 to $550 in November, and now tops out at $470. That's a $130 drop in value, or nearly 22 percent, in a little over two months.
Here's a look at the adjusted values across the board...
Source: Apple and Wayback Machine
The iPhone 12 Pro Max is another model that fell quite a bit in the past couple of months. On November 9, 2022, it would have fetched up to $530 from Apple. Then after the initial round of trade-in value adjustments, it dropped to $480, and is now worth $400. So it dropped by $130, or nearly 25 percent, in the span of a couple of months.
It's unrealistic to think that trade-in values will stay the same over the long term. Technology moves at a blistering pace and, like buying a car, the value of a piece of equipment tends to drop as soon as you get it home. However, it's disappointing to see some of the higher-end models plummet so quickly and repeatedly in a short amount of time.
On the flip side, some of the older iPhone models are holding steady for the most part. I'm still getting by with an iPhone XS Max and if I choose to trade it in to Apple, it would be worth up to $200. Its trade-in value is unchanged from the previous round of adjustments, and is just $10 less than 11 weeks ago. So, it's fallen less than 5 percent in the same span that newer models have dropped by over 20 percent.
"It’s easy to trade in your eligible device for credit toward your next purchase, or get an Apple gift card you can use anytime. If your device isn’t eligible for credit, we’ll recycle it for free. No matter the model or condition, we can turn it into something good for you and good for the planet," Apple explains on its trade-in page.
Apple didn't adjust its iPad lineup this time around, and interestingly, some of its Mac models actually went up in value. The MacBook Pro, for example, now fetches up to $670 versus $630 previously. Likewise, the max trade-in amount increase for the MacBook Air ($460, up from $440), MacBook ($110, up from $100), and Mac mini ($340, up from $305).
There have been some minor adjustments to the Apple Watch lineup as well. Apple Watch Series 7 models are now worth up to $160 via trade-in (up from $155), while the Apple Watch SE fell slightly to $65 (from $70) and the Apple Watch Series 5 to $75 (from $80).
