resale value
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Report: October a record month for tablet trade-ins
It's not just original iPads that are still very much in demand -- it's all tablets, past and present. According to a new report by trade-in site SellCell.com, October 2012 was the biggest month for tablet trade-ins in history, spurred by brand new tablet announcements from Google (the Nexus 10 was officially revealed), Microsoft (the long-awaited Surface saw release), and of course Apple, with the long-rumored iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad. The release of new tablets like these sent the trade-in rates on older tablets soaring, resulting in iPad trade-ins specifically up 500 percent just a week after the iPad mini announcement. In terms of devices coming in for trade, Apple's iPad claims 76 percent of trade-ins, while the BlackBerry PlayBook is next at 10 percent and then the Samsung Galaxy Tab at 7 percent. Of course, more tablets available for trade-in means that prices drop as well, and SellCell says that's exactly what's happening. Trade-in values for the iPad 2 with 3G dropped from $375 to $275 in just the last month. But the good news is that more new tablet models also makes older tablet models more affordable, so even if you can't drop the cash on a new iPad fourth generation, maybe you can find something a little cheaper on Craigslist or trade-in sites like SellCell itself. But the fact that there is such an active market for older tablets shows just what the demand looks like for the category at large. As long as Apple continues to have trouble keeping up with demand on new units, there will also be a trickle-down demand for older versions as well.
Daily Update for November 2, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Study shows Android handsets depreciate in value faster than iPhone
The iPhone has always had a robust market for used handsets, with even older models still getting rather good returns for their former owners. Priceonomics has done a study of the used smartphone market and compared the depreciation in resale value for the iPhone versus Android and BlackBerry handsets. Unsurprisingly, the iPhone holds onto its value much better than competing handsets over the same stretch of time. Priceonomics found that after 18 months an iPhone still garnered an average of 53 percent of its original (unsubsidized) price; in other words, you can expect an iPhone that's a year and a half old to fetch around US$300 on the used market. In contrast, Android handsets only held onto 42 percent of their value, and BlackBerry handsets were a close third at 41 percent. The study also found that most Android handsets depreciate much faster than the iPhone; a used iPhone 4S could probably be sold at or near full retail value months after you bought it, but according to Priceonomics an Android handset would have lost "hundreds of dollars in value" over the same time. The study suggests that the iPhone's reputation as a premium brand is part of why it depreciates in value slower than its competitors, but other factors are likely at play as well. One important consideration is that older-model iPhones still enjoy software updates and support from Apple; the iPhone 3GS is quickly approaching its third birthday, but it still runs the latest version of iOS. Contrast that with the situation among Android handsets, where many (if not most) models sold in 2011 will be forever stuck on Android 2.3 or earlier. The sheer breadth of different Android models is probably hurting the resale market as well. Since 2007 there have only been five major iterations of the iPhone, but the same number of Android handsets can come out in a single week, from multiple manufacturers, and with feature sets and names that are difficult for average consumers to sort through. With all that in mind, it's no wonder the used market for iPhones is paralleling the used PC market, where the Mac reigns supreme in resale value.
