For those of you who upgrade annually....

[zachlegomaniac]

For those of you who upgrade annually do you find you cover the majority of your costs in the resale of your "old" iPhone (assuming it's in excellent condition)? Is there any benefit to this versus doing the same on a biennial basis?

The tax is a fixed cost that can't be avoided, of course. I usually get AT&T to wave my activation fee.

Again, just curious how this works, economically speaking, versus selling an iPhone for upgrade every other year (based on your personal experience).

Thank you for your input,

ZLM

 

[fanchee]

I don't upgrade annually, although I have these past two years. What I have found is if I sell my phone early enough (I use a backup 5 for a month or so) it generally only costs me $300-350 to buy the new 64gb phone. And that's what I would be paying for a subsidized phone anyway, so it has been well worth it for me.

 

[CEmajr]

When I bought my iPhone 6 last year my 32GB iPhone 5S sold for $450 to a guy on Craigslist. The 6 (128GB) cost me $199+ tax out of pocket from T-Mobile. So selling the 5S covered my out of pocket cost. The rest I just kept.

 

[zachlegomaniac]

I don't upgrade annually, although I have these past two years. What I have found is if I sell my phone early enough (I use a backup 5 for a month or so) it generally only costs me $300-350 to buy the new 64gb phone. And that's what I would be paying for a subsidized phone anyway, so it has been well worth it for me.

Great. So I can figure on a new phone costing $300 to $350 (approximately) if I were to go this route.

 

[zachlegomaniac]

When I bought my iPhone 6 last year my 32GB iPhone 5S sold for $450 to a guy on Craigslist. The 6 (128GB) cost me $199+ tax out of pocket from T-Mobile. So selling the 5S covered my out of pocket cost. The rest I just kept.

Yes, but I bought my phone outright (well, started with att next and then paid it off in a lump sum) so I'm trying to take the subsidized cost out of the equation (if I am understanding you correctly). Thanks for the reply!

 

[zachlegomaniac]

Also... I now realize this should be under buying tips and advice. My bad!!

 

[thedeske]

Did the every year thing between the 4/4S/5/5S - it was about the same each year. With a contract (in those years) the ETF plus price of the new phone was always 250 or so above the balance after selling the last model.

The next round will be unlocked and Prepay.

 

[CEmajr]

Yes, but I bought my phone outright (well, started with att next and then paid it off in a lump sum) so I'm trying to take the subsidized cost out of the equation (if I am understanding you correctly). Thanks for the reply!

Back when I used to buy them outright I found that the difference I would have to pay for the new model and what I could sell the old one for was around $300-350.

 

[Flow39]

I have 2 phones right now: a 2014 Moto X and an iPhone 6. I need a backup phone, but I can't sell both, so I think I'll just sell my Moto X and keep my 6 as a backup phone after I get the 6s+. I didn't have any smartphones before so I bought both phones outright. In the future, I probably won't even sell any of my phones, just save up all year and upgrade. Maybe give them to my family members.

 

[andyp350]

I've done the math and for me it works out significantly cheaper to upgrade each year, selling last years model goes a long way to paying for the new one, and then my sim only phone tariff is a lot cheaper each month.
I sold my year old iPhone 5S for around £400 last year.
Unfortunately my 6 Plus has a few chips/crack around the edge of the bezel and minor screen scratches so I won't get so much this time.

 

[zachlegomaniac]

I've done the math and for me it works out significantly cheaper to upgrade each year, selling last years model goes a long way to paying for the new one, and then my sim only phone tariff is a lot cheaper each month.
I sold my year old iPhone 5S for around £400 last year.
Unfortunately my 6 Plus has a few chips/crack around the edge of the bezel and minor screen scratches so I won't get so much this time.

Yeah. For the price I see of one year old iPhones (on Craigslist) every year I've begun thinking it might end up costing the same amount of the every other year.

The only hassle is getting a new one and selling the old one more frequently, but that's a minor inconvenience. Plus,
I always keep the original packaging and accessories, as I'm sure many macrumors members do.

 

[stu.h]

I buy outright each year, I normally get ~65% back from the sale of my old phone.

 

[wchigo]

I sell my old phones to colleagues whenever I get a new phone (been doing this since moving from the 4S to the 5) and generally I've gotten back enough to recoup around 50% of the cost of the new phone. I tend to go with somewhat lower prices than what I could get if I sold to someone online but it's okay if I make a little less back and I like helping out my friends and colleagues.