Report says that this phone lost an amazing 87% of its value after just 12 months

As many of you already know, the first time that you take a brand new handset out of the box, its value starts to drop. It's called depreciation and the same thing happens to the value of a new car when you drive it off the dealer's lot after purchasing it. Britain's musicMagpie, an online retailer of refurbished electronics and used video games, has released its annual phone depreciation report.

2,093 U.K. mobile phone users were asked about how they usually handle trade-ins and 61% don't trade in a device at the same time they upgrade. On average, they wait 16 months to do so. But while waiting that long, the value of their trade drops in half. Considering that the average consumer upgrades his phone 35 times during his lifetime, £3.4K (currently worth $4,656 USD) is lost simply by delaying trading in their old phone.

Interestingly, 10% of those who delay trading in their old handset do so because they think that the device they are turning in will become more valuable. Instead, the value actually declines over time. 33% of U.K. phone owners don't bother trading in their phones at all. The older the person owning a phone, the less likely he or she is to trade it in as 42% of those 45 years of age and older refuse to get involved in a trade.

Steve Oliver, the CEO of musicMagpie gave these words of wisdom, "Our data shows that trading in your old device as soon as you upgrade is the way to get the best value from it, which can then be used to help fund the purchase of an upgrade or to be spent as you please. Our trade-in offers are valid for 21 days, giving people time to ensure their new device has arrived before they send their old one to us."

The Apple iPhone holds the most value according to musicMagpie. After 12 months, an iPhone loses 41% of its initial value, and after a 24-month contract expires, the value of an average iPhone is 60% lower than it was at launch. Samsung is next with the value of a Galaxy handset 64% lower after a year and 77% lower after 2-years. OnePlus models after 12-months and 24-months are valued at 69% and 78% lower respectively.

Pixels, at least before the new models were released, averaged a 65% drop in valuation after one year, and an 83% decline after two. And Huawei models saw three-quarters of their initial worth evaporate after 12 months expanding to a whopping 87% after 24 months.

The 5G iPhone models are holding on to more value. After 12 months, the iPhone 12 Pro, one of the first 5G iPhone models, lost only 32% after the first six months. Compare that to the 55% drop in value that took place after six months for one of Samsung's first 5G phones, the Galaxy S10 5G.

One interesting note; the report notes that more expensive phones priced at £600 and up ($821 USD) retain a larger percentage of their value. After six months, phones priced at £999 and up ($1,367 USD) lost 53% of their value. Phones in the £600-£899 price range ($821 USD-$1,230 USD) lost 54% of their value during the same time period, and phones priced at £599 ($820 USD) and lower were worth 62% less than their initial valuation after six months.

How would you like to own a phone that was worth only 13% of what you paid for it after the first 12 months? That dubious honor goes to the Huawei Mate 30 Pro followed by the Huawei P20, which lost 84% of its valuation after one year. The original Samsung Fold (-75%) and the OG Galaxy Z Flip (-83%) were worth a small fraction of their high prices after 12 months.

The iPhone dominated the list of phones that lost the smallest amount of value after 12 months with the iPhone 11 (-33%) leading the way. Other members of the iPhone 11 series made it on the list including the iPhone 11 Pro (-36%) and iPhone 11 Pro Max (-41%). The two best performing non-iPhone models after 12 months were the OnePlus 7T (-50%) and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (-52%).