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Ho do you think the resale value of the iPhone 4 will be in a year or two?

palmerc2

palmerc2

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 29, 2008
1,625
687
Los Angeles
I sold my iPhone 3G for $275 and bought the iPhone 4 with that money, so did fairly well considering the hardware was 2 years old.

Now with all this mumbo jumbo with the antenna which everyone is soooo content on making Apple out to be worse than the Nazis (which I don't care, it's so easy to avoid that spot), how do you think the resale value will be?

Will it follow the same trend as previous models? Or do you think it's resale value will be down the drain?
 
I think the antenna issue will be long forgotten by then. Lots of phones have such issues that are completely ignored because no one talks about them. No one is going to be talking about this issue in two years.

The retina display on the other hand will help this phone retain it's value for quite some time. Because I don't foresee any smartphone trouncing the display that the iPhone currently has in the next two years.
 
wikoogle said:
I think the antenna issue will be long forgotten by then. Lots of phones have such issues that are completely ignored because no one talks about them. No one is going to be talking about this issue in two years.

The retina display on the other hand will help this phone retain it's value for quite some time. Because I don't foresee any smartphone trouncing the display that the iPhone currently has in the next two years.
Click to expand...

just like Windows Vista has been long forgotten.
 
saving107 said:
just like Windows Vista has been long forgotten.
Click to expand...

What? That reply doesn't even make sense. Here is an actual comparable example...

I would have zero problem selling my Toyota today. An year ago, this wouldn't be the case because Toyota was all over the news. The media gets into over dramatic frenzies for short bursts of time, and then forgets about them completely in three months. And everyone else follows suit.
 
Um, it will sell the same way any previous iPhone has sold. It will continue to be wanted, until the iPhone brand is no longer in demand.
 
I agree. In fact I. Think the 4 will hold it's value better than the 3GS did due to the camera and screen.
 
The 4 will hold significantly better value than the 3GS because the latter had an outdated display and design before it was even released. Apple didn't change crucial elements like the design and the screen.

With the 4, the Retina display and design are brand new and technologically advanced. Next year, the sequel will probably bring only incremental upgrades --probably better contrast and sharper screen but with same resolution, faster CPU/GPU (obviously, greater storage, more RAM, and maybe a minor improvement to the camera.

The 32Gb model should retain its value better comparatively than the 16Gb.
 
There's a significant risk that the re-sale value of any phone of today will be near to zero within 2 years because of the expected arrival of LTE as THE mobile phone standard.
 
Two years is a long way away, so it is hard to tell.

The mobile recycling websites still give decent money for an iPhone 3G. In UK you can get ~£130 for the 8Gb (you can still get ~£75 for the original iPhone). On a low-ish contract the iPhone 4 16Gb is ~£180 upfront.

Numbers are rough, but in two years an iPhone 4 should cancel out most of the upgrade cost to the 'iPhone 6'.
 
Like all old cell phones, the resale value of the iPhone 4 will drop-off sharply after a couple of years. The retina display may extend the resale value a little longer than average, while the perceived antenna problems may have the opposite effect. Either way, with aging batteries, my guess is that a pristine iP4 will fetch $150-$250 by the end of 2012.
 
Bernard SG said:
There's a significant risk that the re-sale value of any phone of today will be near to zero within 2 years because of the expected arrival of LTE as THE mobile phone standard.
Click to expand...

LTE isn't going to be out there and replacing everyone else in two years. Heck, there is just one single phone that uses LTE in the US, and it is a dumbphone (Samsung Craft) and this is only in Las Vegas.

Before other phones go the way of the dodo for basic connectivity, the following must happen:

1: LTE gets put out into some test cities.
2: LTE gets up into all major cities.
3: LTE ends up in smaller towns.
4: LTE gets deployed to country areas.
5: LTE completely supersedes 3G, EDGE, CDMA, and GPRS in every single area of the US.
6: LTE technology is universal where everyone has towers up supporting it.

As per the above, we are not even at stage 1 with LTE. Two years is not enough time to get it everywhere. This date in 2013, we might see some major cities with LTE, but drive to a smaller town, and your phone will be speaking 3G or EDGE.

Take a look at AMPS, the old analog technology. We had CDMA and TDMA that supplanted it in 1997 and all digital hardware in 1999-2000. However it took until 2008 for the standard to be killed.

LTE will be the same way. Before CDMA and GSM get turned off, LTE not just has to be deployed, but deployed even in completely rural areas. This isn't going to happen overnight, and likely won't completely happen before the end of this decade. The reason for this is that there is no real push or incentive for cellular providers to move to LTE, unlike digital lines where they could use a lot less bandwidth for the same calls.
 
I personally don't care. I didn't buy my iPhone to resell - I bought it to use and enjoy. If I happen to be able to sell it - whether it's for $50 or $250 - that's all gravy.
 
I do think the resale value of the iPhone 4 will be affected by all the problems that plagued it. Everyone I know has heard the jokes, read the news, is aware of Jobs press conference. This stuff doesn't help.
 
The whole antenna thing seems to be major in the US, and even on here the cries of disgust are mainly from US members.

The phone has launched in countries like Australia during the height of "Antennagate" and no-one has complained, no media outcry, nothing.

I personally don't have the issue unless I'm in a very weak area of reception and I hold my phone in the good ol' "Death Grip".

I actually, during the whole Antennagate pish, enjoyed showing smug friends my five bars on O2 (after the signal bar update) and even offered them the "once in a lifetime chance" to make the bars drop themselves.

They couldn't.

I need to be in some remote areas to make it happen, and please note MAKE it happen. I need to go out of my way and hold the phone like an ape and go all OCD on the bars ... although when you're on the beach at Carnoustie in Scotland while visiting family and you can't make the bars drop, you can't help but be a smug sod.
 
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