Report estimates how much your iPhone 12 model will be worth once the 2021 series is launched

Decluttr is a website and an app that allows users to sell tech items including smartphones. You can receive an instant valuation and send in the device being sold. With the iPhone 13 series and the Pixel 6 line soon to be released in weeks, now just might be a good time to get rid of some older handsets to raise money for your new purchases. Today, decluttr released its annual phone depreciation report.

Decluttr points out that similar to the way a car depreciates the moment it is driven off of the dealer's lot, a phone starts to lose value as soon as it is taken out of the box. The company surveyed 2,000 phone users in the states about the way they handle trade-ins and combined the results with its own depreciation data.

The data shows that 46% of phone owners do not trade in their device at the same time that they upgrade to a new handset and instead wait an average of 10 weeks. During this delay, the device being traded in typically declines by 33% or $73 in value. With the average person completing 38 trades over his/her lifetime, this means that roughly $2,700 is lost to procrastination by the time a smartphone owner no longer has a need for the device.

So why do so many people put off trading in their phones? The survey shows that 23% have no idea that a delay lowers the value of their phone. Perhaps we can hold that group blameless for not knowing this. But another 11% are gambling and this group wrongly believes that the longer they hold their old phone, the more money it will be worth. Now, this might work with certain phones that collectors might be interested in such as a 2007 OG iPhone, but it won't add value to your Galaxy S20.

Decluttr says that on average, the launch of a new iPhone drops the value of the predecessor model by 12% after the first month and 20% after three months. When the iPhone 12 series was launched last year, the iPhone 11 dropped 15% and 20% after one month and three months respectively. If the typical depreciation continues with the launch of the iPhone 13 series, after one month each of the iPhone 12 models will lose 12% and after three months, the value of each model will drop by 20%.

31% of phone owners in the states do not trade in their phones at all leaving older handsets to collect dust in a drawer. These phones are losing value and also create what decluttr calls e-waste that could eventually end up in landfills across the country. Not surprisingly, it is older people who are more apt to refrain from trading in their phones.

As many of you know, the iPhone holds its value better than the competition. On average, the iPhone loses 49% of its value over 12 months and 66% over 24 months. That compares with a Samsung Galaxy phone which on average loses 65% of its value after a year and 79% after two years.

The top eight models that retained the most value after 12 months are all iPhones with the iPhone 11 on top. The latter's valuation declined 37% during the last 12 months. The iPhone XS Max and iPhone 11 Pro Max are next, both dropping 43% in value. The last two models in the top ten were both Pixels with the Pixel 3a slipping 52% and the Pixel XL down 53%.

The phones that lost the most value over 12 months are led by the Pixel 2 (-77%), Pixel 3 (-73%), Pixel 3 XL (-73%), and the Pixel 2 XL (-72%).