iPhone retains its value best over the years, Android, RIM losing value quicker
You’ve probably noticed that already, but here’s a study to prove your observations true and back it all up with data - the iPhone has the best resale value, while Android and RIM trail behind.
18 months after you buy your device, its resale value would have dropped to 53% of the original price if it’s an iPhone, 42% if it’s running Android and 41% if it’s a BlackBerry, according to a study by Y Combinator price guide startup Priceonomics.
And if you kept your device for only 12 months, its price would decline to 63% for iPhones and 46% for Androids. If you only keep it for half a year, than an iPhone could sell for 89% of the original price.
“We examined all iPhone models and the 70 most popular Androids and 30 most popular BlackBerry models. iPhone is wiping the floor with Android and BlackBerry in terms of resale value.”
We should note, though, that the study focused on the American market and didn’t take into account carrier fees.
The study also showed that in some places people just sell more iPhones. The list of places where all the hip kids exchange iPhone is on the right - you're likely to get the best price there as the competition is strongest.
This makes the iPhone a perfect purchase for those wishing to get the best value out of their phone and sell it to get a newer one later on. For carriers, though, the situation is hardly that good - Sprint said iPhone subsidies pulled it down for the last quarter. We've added an ebay chart displaying how the iPhone 4S resale value decreased over the last couple of months.
source: Pricenomics via TechCrunch
Thumbnail image courtesy of HDforindies.com.
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