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Prediction: The death of iPhone resale values
- Thread starter macfacts
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Now that everyone and their brother has at least one iPhone resale has already begun sliding down. You'll see responses with Apple devotees claiming they got high prices for theirs, anything is possible, yet I watch the used / secondary market closely and prices just aren't like they used to be.
That's not a bad thing, it's quite normal. iPhones aren't as sought after as they once were. Nothing goes on forever.
That's not a bad thing, it's quite normal. iPhones aren't as sought after as they once were. Nothing goes on forever.
buy just iPhone 5 with IOS 7.1.2 on it. And don´t update.
The market is getting saturated,
the competitors have their own smartphones at least on par if not more advanced, but less expensive.
So there are already a lot of good reasons that prices for second-hand iPhone do what they did already in 2015: GO DOWN.
The prices for used iPhones will continue to go down and the price for iPhone 5 (without fingerprint button) with IOS7 will be stable or perhaps even slightly go up, because the 5-series is the most reliable iPhone ever and has the optimum form factor for a lot of people. That´s the reason why apple made R&D for the upcoming iPhone 5se… and why more and more people are (literally) downsizing their phone from 6 to 5… the bigger form factor is not so good for daily life...
This phenomenon of stable/upgoing prices is already the case for ALL Macs that are not soldered nor glued:
Prices for the full serviceable and upgradeable MBP, MacPros, Mac Mini of 2012 and earlier are stable and now constantly going up. Because there is more and more demand in the market...
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I suspect Apple will quietly replace every iPhone that has been bricked in this way and this issue will be swept under the rug. Business as usual.
Issues like Error 53 or the January 1 thing get a lot of noise, but the actual number people affected is pretty small, and the number who learn about it is smaller than most people think (the old Internet Echo Chamber effect). The next software update addresses the issue, and by the time a few more months pass it's all forgotten. Well, forgotten by all but those who keep wishing Apple would disappear off the face of the earth (not gonna happen).
One might as well say, "iPhone's popularity with thieves has to drive down resale value, because it saturates the market for used phones."
One might as well say, "iPhone's popularity with thieves has to drive down resale value, because it saturates the market for used phones."
I have never sold any of my iPhones, I just gave them to family/friends, I suppose that kills resale value too.
True and unlike other manufacturers whose resale sinks to the bottom of the ocean, like a heavy rock, the iphones just float down. It's still quite normal for the iphone to hold their value better than some other phones regardless of what the anti-apple crowd may say.
None of the previous "gates" made value go down - antenna gate, it's bent gate, etc. I don't believe these issues either, will cause resale value to decline. However it is true the market is becoming saturated with iPhones, and that may diminish value. That said, the Sammy phone values still continue to drop like a brick when new ones are released. So comparatively I believe they will still top others.
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Does anyone know if error 53 happens within minutes or does it happen at random times after updating? I guess I can see resale value going down because it adds risk to a major purchase. Can you really trust resellers when they say that components haven't been replaced?
OP you have a excellent point. I personally wouldn't buy a phone from a reseller online or from a complete stranger. We have a real possibility of buying phones that can be bricked by future updates. Ultimately I believe Apple should be visible and offer a way to remedy this. To me there is nothing dishonest about a mom and pop shop replacing damaged or defective parts prior to this error 53 business.
Maybe Apple should allow sellers and buyers verify phones in their Apple Stores at no charge. They created this mess.
OP you have a excellent point. I personally wouldn't buy a phone from a reseller online or from a complete stranger. We have a real possibility of buying phones that can be bricked by future updates. Ultimately I believe Apple should be visible and offer a way to remedy this. To me there is nothing dishonest about a mom and pop shop replacing damaged or defective parts prior to this error 53 business.
Maybe Apple should allow sellers and buyers verify phones in their Apple Stores at no charge. They created this mess.
For anyone bother to read what cause error 53, it only happen when 3rd party non-Apple-genuine-non-Apple-qualifed Touch ID component is used to replaced original Apple Touch ID component, and it continue work for couple months until Apple disable any iPhone use 3rd party non-Apple-genuine-non-Apple-qualifed Touch ID component on newer iOS update release.
The problem from law firm comes Apple never publicly say any iPhone user could use 3rd party, non-Apple-genuine-non-Apple-qualifed component on any of Apple product, as claim as law firm who is filing the class action lawsuit. They will have to prove Apple "allow" user to use 3rd party non-Apple-genuine-non-Apple-qualifed component on iPhone with/without warranty.
If you work in any networking/computer HW company, you will understand it is common practice to find anyway possible to prevent piracy, hence 3rd party non-genuine-non-qualifed component. So Apple will use piracy as defense. If they allow any 3rd party non-Apple-genuine-non-Apple-qualifed component on used iPhone, there is no guarantee there will not be any piracy in the future use non-Apple-genuine-non-Apple-qualifed component and sell as new phone.
The problem from law firm comes Apple never publicly say any iPhone user could use 3rd party, non-Apple-genuine-non-Apple-qualifed component on any of Apple product, as claim as law firm who is filing the class action lawsuit. They will have to prove Apple "allow" user to use 3rd party non-Apple-genuine-non-Apple-qualifed component on iPhone with/without warranty.
If you work in any networking/computer HW company, you will understand it is common practice to find anyway possible to prevent piracy, hence 3rd party non-genuine-non-qualifed component. So Apple will use piracy as defense. If they allow any 3rd party non-Apple-genuine-non-Apple-qualifed component on used iPhone, there is no guarantee there will not be any piracy in the future use non-Apple-genuine-non-Apple-qualifed component and sell as new phone.
Right now i like just renting my iPhone6 at $25US a Month, at end of contract i can just upgrade or pay $200US for phone. Like anything phones lose value over time. Major item with me is does my iPhone work well for what i want it to do. If answer is yes then all is Ok.
We know what error 53 is but what OP is trying to say is that it may dent resale value because you just don't completely know the history of a used phone even if it was not stolen. If you had a iPhone 6S for sell I would seriously think more than twice from buying it from you. What if Apple decides to pull a Error 53 for previously jailbroken devices? Should I take your word that no modifications or repairs were done?
If you think Apple will pull a "Error 53" similar for jailbroken, since Error 53 can't technical to apply to jailbroken (if you think it could, you do NOT understand what cause error 53), they will do it long long long times ago. It is to protect 3rd party component used in piracy. Goto Shenzhen Huaqiangbei market for a full day tour, and come back tell me how many iPhone look alike phone you could find.
If you do not use 3rd party component NOT approved by Apple, it will never matter to you for the rest of your iPhone's life.
It is a non-issue for most people does not want to save money by using 3rd party non-Apple-qualified component, or get con by mom/pop repair store want to save a buck by using 3rd party non-Apple-quality part.
Tell us exactly: Which manufacturers resale prices "sink like to the bottom of the ocean like a heavy rock" ?
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/samsung-resale-prices-rival-iphones-2013-03-14
and tell us: If there are "heavy" rocks - are there also lightweight rocks existing? perhaps ones being designed by Jony Ive?
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Nice article, 3 years old. How about 2016?Tell us exactly: Which manufacturers resale prices "sink like to the bottom of the ocean like a heavy rock" ?
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/samsung-resale-prices-rival-iphones-2013-03-14
and tell us: If there are "heavy" rocks - are there also lightweight rocks existing? perhaps ones being designed by Jony Ive?
Nope. The most desirable phones on the planet, Error 53 or not.
I'm sure sales will decline slightly but I don't think they will fall off a cliff like some people seem to think. I wouldn't mind sales going down a bit, selfishly so that I can walk in to an apple store on launch day or the next day with no lines and get a phone... and also so that Apple can wake up and really blow us away with a revolutionary iPhone release to spark sales again.