If you bought the Galaxy S22 or iPhone 14 last year, you might have made a poor choice
Google has massively stepped up its updates game by committing to eight years of software support. Others like Xiaomi have also started supporting their new devices for longer. Niche phone maker Fairphone aims to support its phones for up to 10 years. All this would make you think that people keep their phones for years. But an average consumer in the US doesn't keep their smartphone for more than two years and a half. One in ten smartphone owner upgrades their phone every year.
Many of these frequent upgraders sell their old phones. But not all used phones get you a good amount of money. Some depreciate at a horrendously fast rate, despite boasting the status of a premium phone and only being a year old.
According to a report from shopping information site SimpleGhar, the Samsung Galaxy S22 has already lost 40 percent of its value since its release in 2022. And it's not just the Galaxy S22, as the Galaxy S21 Plus, the Galaxy A53, and Galaxy A13 were also on the list of phones that have depreciated the most each year on average since release. It's being theorized that Samsung phones decline in value at a rapid pace because Samsung releases so many phones each year.
Another fairly recent premium model on the list is the OnePlus 10 Pro, which is now worth around 63 percent of its original price since its release last year. The OnePlus Nord 2 and the Nord N20 are also among the top ten fastest-depreciating handsets.
The report notes among the 29 leading consumer tech brands they studied, OnePlus products lose more value than gadgets from other companies. This has been attributed to fast battery drainage and unresponsive displays.
Apple iPhones tend to retain their value better than top Android phones but the Cupertino giant shouldn't take this reputation for granted. The report says that last year's iPhone 14 has sunk more in value than any other Apple gadget, including the 2020 iPhone 12. It has already depreciated by 24.68 percent, which is pretty high for an iPhone.
Smartphone marketplace SellCell thinks that the iPhone 14's relatively high price and underwhelming new features could be why it has a low resale value.
If you are the owner of any of the smartphones mentioned above and regret buying them, keep in mind that you don't need to pay any attention to depreciation rates if you don't replace your phone every year. Besides, resale value isn't everything and if you got a lot of value out of your phone, that's all that matters at the end of the day. Or that's what you can tell yourself to feel better about your purchase decisions, anyway.
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