128GB Resale Value?

[MICHAELSD]

Theoretically when we go to sell our 128GB 6 in a year or two it should go for $200 more than the 16GB yet that hasn't been the case with the 5S's $400 64GB option selling for ~$50 over the 16GB 5S, mainly due to Apple devaluing it by making the 6 64GB option $300.

Curious to hear anyone's opinions on whether the 128GB will end up being a loss when it comes to reselling or if it will fetch the same $200 premium in a year. My gut is telling me it'll probably sell on average for $30 more than the 64GB model based on past iPhones. Though it'd be very nice to have the extra space I could get by with 64GB...

 

[CEmajr]

Theoretically when we go to sell our 128GB 6 in a year or two it should go for $200 more than the 16GB yet that hasn't been the case with the 5S's $400 64GB option selling for ~$50 over the 16GB 5S, mainly due to Apple devaluing it by making the 6 64GB option $300.

Curious to hear anyone's opinions on whether the 128GB will end up being a loss when it comes to reselling or if it will fetch the same $200 premium in a year. My gut is telling me it'll probably sell on average for $30 more than the 64GB model based on past iPhones. Though it'd be very nice to have the extra space I could get by with 64GB...

You'll always lose resale value with higher storage capacity models relative to the base 16GB model. The market doesn't value extra storage at $100 or $200 more than the base model like Apple does. Expect the 128GB to be worth about the same as what the 64GB 5S is worth on the resale market right now.

 

[Newtons Apple]

I would not count on recovering the extgra cost of the 128GB phone.

I bought the 128GB iPhone 6 because I needed the room, not for investment in the future!

 

[maflynn]

The demand for such high storage units are such that you'll find it hard to sell it. I'd say you'll have hard time recouping your investment never mind a profit.

 

[clyde2801]

base models rule on resale

In my experience, base models of Apple products have the highest return when reselling as used. This is especially so on craigslist.

Buyers of used products generally emphasize price and value more than features and performance, or they would buy new. They have a rough idea of what they want (for example, last years iPhone 5S) and want to pay the lowest price possible for the basic feature set; in this case, 16gb of storage. They will only buy a handset with more storage if it is priced at or very near what others are asking for their base models. If you bought a 64gb 5s last year, you paid an extra $200 for the expanded storage, but you'd be lucky to get $50 more than the local going rate for 16gb models. You'd be able to sell your phone more quickly, if you decided you could absorb a higher loss of value.

Case in point: I have a couple of friends who decided to sell their 2014 Macbook airs in anticipation of the rumored 2015 Macbook Air retina. One was able to quickly sell his 13" i5 with 4gb ram and 128 gb SSD for $800. The other listed his 13" i7 with 8gb of ram and a 256 SSD for $1000, and while it's a better machine at a bigger overall discount, Craiglisters are acting like it's covered in excrement.

Your emphasis should be buying a product that meets your current needs rather than resale value. If 16gb meets your current needs, great!* If not, I'd rather take a bigger hit on resale value than spend two years looking at my handset wishing that I had a little extra space for a new song or app without having to delete something.

*And while I'm on the subject, putting 16gb in the base model 6 and especially 6 plus is kind of a dick move on Apple's part. Pretty paltry, especially considering the plus will serve as a combination phone and tablet for many of its users AND costs an extra $100 anyway. They're probably smart enough to realize that if they did 32/64/128 on storage hardly anyone would buy the upgraded models.

 

[iosuser]

They're probably smart enough to realize that if they did 32/64/128 on storage hardly anyone would buy the upgraded models.

Absolutely. I've bought 32GB every time. Had they upped the base to 32GB, they wouldn't have had my extra $100. At least 64GB for the extra $100 is a bit easier to swallow. The 32GB for extra $100 had always been the worst deal - $100 for only extra 16GB.

 

[scaredpoet]

Curious to hear anyone's opinions on whether the 128GB will end up being a loss when it comes to reselling or if it will fetch the same $200 premium in a year. My gut is telling me it'll probably sell on average for $30 more than the 64GB model based on past iPhones. Though it'd be very nice to have the extra space I could get by with 64GB...

I don't look at my smartphones as investments. From a purely resale standpoint, any technology purchase is a bad investment because you'll always lose money on the resale. Technology doesn't appreciate, unless something you have suddenly becomes a rare, notable, collectible vintage item.

That said, my iTunes music and video library edges out at just over 70GB, and I take lots of photos and videos. So to me, i "invest" in a 128GB iPad and have "invested" in a 128GB iPhone 6 Plus, because I feel that value of having that extra space and not having to prune my library all the time, is worth the extra money to me. So is potentially saving on data overages because I won't have to stream on cellular as much.

Then, when it's time to upgrade, I see whatever money I get off the resale of my old device as a nice rebate off the money I spend on the new thing.

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*And while I'm on the subject, putting 16gb in the base model 6 and especially 6 plus is kind of a dick move on Apple's part. Pretty paltry, especially considering the plus will serve as a combination phone and tablet for many of its users AND costs an extra $100 anyway. They're probably smart enough to realize that if they did 32/64/128 on storage hardly anyone would buy the upgraded models.

I've been considering this for a while now, and I'm not so sure it's as dicky a move as it might seem on the face of it. From a purely rational standpoint, sure, it's totally underhanded. But unfortunately, not a lot of people are rational.

At least two of my friends are considering the 16GB model because "[they] never put anything on [their] phones anyway." Even though if it had been 32GB, that would've have hurt them much. And I know at least one of them might've actually bellyached if the 16GB weren't available, that Apple was making people pay for a 32GB model when they could've released a cheaper 16GB model.

It also seems like he lowest storage point sells the most, every time. So that might've been a signal to Apple that there's a lot of people out there who are fine with 16GB.

Meanwhile, spending $100 more gets you a 4x storage upgrade. So, there is a careful psychology in this choice.

There are really two kinds of iPhone users: those who like to stream everything off the cloud, and those who really prefer to stick everything they can on their on-board storage. 32GB is sort of an awkward midpoint between the two extremes that maybe wouldn't have been picked as much.

 

[Leonard1818]

I thought about this too when I bought the 64 gig iPhone 5.

I think it's like a "luxury item" and you shouldn't expect to see a dollar-for-dollar return on what you paid for it. Most "luxury" type items devalue very quickly.

I hope I'm wrong (cause I've got two high-capacity iPhones)

 

[Bokes]

you will lose.
I have found throughout the years that storage capacity is not a major factor for buyers who buy used.
You end up paying more on the front end for the space and recoup none of it on the backend.

Get the space you need today- not because you think it might get you more $$$ two years from now- because it will not.

 

[clyde2801]

you will lose.
I have found throughout the years that storage capacity is not a major factor for buyers who buy used.
You end up paying more on the front end for the space and recoup none of it on the backend.

Get the space you need today- not because you think it might get you more $$$ two years from now- because it will not.

Great minds think alike.



Then again, so do ours!

 

[uiop.]

I don't expect to get much more than the value of a 64GB model whenever I sell my 128GB. As stated, people don't care. I wouldn't be surprised if I get maybe $75 more than a comparable 16GB model. Oh well.

 

[ToroidalZeus]

In my experience, base models of Apple products have the highest return when reselling as used. This is especially so on craigslist.

Buyers of used products generally emphasize price and value more than features and performance, or they would buy new. They have a rough idea of what they want (for example, last years iPhone 5S) and want to pay the lowest price possible for the basic feature set; in this case, 16gb of storage. They will only buy a handset with more storage if it is priced at or very near what others are asking for their base models. If you bought a 64gb 5s last year, you paid an extra $200 for the expanded storage, but you'd be lucky to get $50 more than the local going rate for 16gb models. You'd be able to sell your phone more quickly, if you decided you could absorb a higher loss of value.

Case in point: I have a couple of friends who decided to sell their 2014 Macbook airs in anticipation of the rumored 2015 Macbook Air retina. One was able to quickly sell his 13" i5 with 4gb ram and 128 gb SSD for $800. The other listed his 13" i7 with 8gb of ram and a 256 SSD for $1000, and while it's a better machine at a bigger overall discount, Craiglisters are acting like it's covered in excrement.

Your emphasis should be buying a product that meets your current needs rather than resale value. If 16gb meets your current needs, great!* If not, I'd rather take a bigger hit on resale value than spend two years looking at my handset wishing that I had a little extra space for a new song or app without having to delete something.

*And while I'm on the subject, putting 16gb in the base model 6 and especially 6 plus is kind of a dick move on Apple's part. Pretty paltry, especially considering the plus will serve as a combination phone and tablet for many of its users AND costs an extra $100 anyway. They're probably smart enough to realize that if they did 32/64/128 on storage hardly anyone would buy the upgraded models.

Completely agree with this point. I sold my unlocked iPhone 5 64GB for the exact same price as my locked iPhone 5S 16GB.

For resale the BIGGEST factor is being "unlocked" which adds roughly $100 to the price. Size difference from smallest to largest is only 50 bucks or so.

For the record I am a yearly upgrade and I've made the decision to always purchase the lowest base model phone for this exact reason; the more you pay for your phone now, the bigger of a hit you will take used.

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I don't look at my smartphones as investments. From a purely resale standpoint, any technology purchase is a bad investment because you'll always lose money on the resale. Technology doesn't appreciate, unless something you have suddenly becomes a rare, notable, collectible vintage item.

That's why I like the old subsidy system so much. The subsidy cancels out my depreciation and I end up selling the phone for buying costs even after two years.

At least two of my friends are considering the 16GB model because "[they] never put anything on [their] phones anyway." Even though if it had been 32GB, that would've have hurt them much. And I know at least one of them might've actually bellyached if the 16GB weren't available, that Apple was making people pay for a 32GB model when they could've released a cheaper 16GB model.

It also seems like he lowest storage point sells the most, every time. So that might've been a signal to Apple that there's a lot of people out there who are fine with 16GB.

Meanwhile, spending $100 more gets you a 4x storage upgrade. So, there is a careful psychology in this choice.

There are really two kinds of iPhone users: those who like to stream everything off the cloud, and those who really prefer to stick everything they can on their on-board storage. 32GB is sort of an awkward midpoint between the two extremes that maybe wouldn't have been picked as much.

I disagree. I feel that anyone who takes pictures (and especially videos) on a daily basis will hit the 16GB limit pretty fast. 32-64GB is really the sweet spot where most users have their needs fulfilled.

32/64/128 would have put the majority of users in the 32 camp, <10% in 128, and the rest in 64.

16/64/128 puts a lot more people into the 64gb range.

 

[faiz23]

64gb is best bang for buck when you consider personal usage along with resale.