Find out which smartphones hold their value better than others

Smartphones are like cars it seems. Some hold their value better than others when it’s time to trade them in and upgrade to the latest model.

According to a study by phone trade-in site BankMyCell, iPhones hold their value better than any other brand of smartphone with Samsung not far behind.

The research showed in a year, the iPhone’s value depreciated by 13.83 per cent compared with an Android phone’s 32.06 per cent drop in value on average.

After four years, iPhones will lose 47.49 per cent of their value while an Android device will on average lose 78.94 per cent.

Comparing Apple with Samsung also produced some interesting results.

Looking at the Apple and Samsung smartphones released in 2020/2021 – the iPhone 12 and the Galaxy S21 – Apple’s iPhone 12 (released in October 2020) lost 13.83 per cent of its value throughout 2021 while the Samsung Galaxy S21 range (released in January 2021) fell in value by 23.72 per cent.

But the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra was the only Galaxy S smartphone that almost matched Apple’s price retention, losing 16.35 per cent value compared with the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s drop of 15.4 per cent.

Repair costs also had an impact on resale value through trading services who refurbish and resell smartphones.

This was particularly telling of foldable devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 3 which would cost $US479 to repair the inner screen compared with $US199 for a Galaxy 21 display repair.

The Galaxy Z fold 3 5G, released in August 2021 for $US1799 would lose $1039 five months later or 57.75 per cent of its value according BankMyCell.

The Galaxy Z Flip 3 also launched in August 2021 for $US999 was valued 53.60% less by December.

Affordable Android devices priced at $500 or less were shown to lose almost 60 per cent of the value of the handset in the average 24-month cycle.

Android devices in this price range or less lose an average of 41.82 per cent of their resale value in the first year and 58.84 per cent by year two and 71.57 per cent by year three.

Going just by brands – Apple has the lowest average value loss in 2021 at 21.93 per cent, followed by Google (-32.46 per cent), Motorola (-34.83 per cent) and Samsung (-39.17 per cent).