Question to those who upgrade every year.

[mdx001]

At one time you could do pretty well selling the old phone on Ebay or Craigslist but in the past couple of years the demand hasn't been as strong on a used iphone. Sites that resale the phones are buying up a lot of the old phones and driving the used prices down. So now paying over $900 for the 128gb 6s and selling the old 128gb 6 in many cases will only bring a little over $300 for the used phone so it still makes you put out about $600. I use to make money selling the old phone and buying the new phone and that's why I did it. Now it cost me money so I don't upgrade as much.

 

[icanhazapple]

2GB of RAM. Opening and closing apps on the 6 is slow. Go use an iPad Air 2 (yes I know it's a higher clocked tri-core compared to the dual core). That is the speed at which iOS should run, and much of the performance leap on the Air 2 pertains to the 2GB.

 

[maflynn]

64 gb version. I usually get $500 for it. If you do not want to do any work most websites will even give you over $400 for it.

When yousay most websites, you mean like gazelle?

When I pull up my ip6+ its only offering 370 (swappa is in the 400 to 600 hundred range).

 

[mattopotamus]

When yousay most websites, you mean like gazelle?

When I pull up my ip6+ its only offering 370 (swappa is in the 400 to 600 hundred range).

I used icracked.com. They will give me $410 and pick it up from me locally. That is for the verizon 64gb 6. I locked that quote it last week, and it is good for 30 days.

I wil list it on swappa, but that is my backup.

 

[Kendo]

Curious....thinking of doing this. I do the buy and sell also. But I am staggering upgrades and buying the phone on new 2-yr contract pricing. Therefore breaking even for price of new phone. (Sometimes a bit of a profit).

I'd like to just go away from my contracts and buy outright! What storage etc are you buying and selling? How much are you able to get out of your old phone? I've had pretty good luck so far selling my old iPhones 🙂

Probably not worth buying it outright. The contract is what gives you that $450 discount which helps immensely. I too always used to buy a $200 iPhone on contract, and 2 years later sell it for around $325 which means after the worthless AT&T upgrade fees and whatnot, I always broke even or made a little bit of profit.

But if you pay full price at $650, and a year later you sell it for $500, you lose $150 every year.

 

[appygirl82]

I see you are on AT&T? Verizon and AT&T both charge an extra monthly fee for those that go with the subsidized pricing so in the end, it actually costs you more to buy a phone under that. (I don't know about other carriers) Getting rid of contracts would be cheaper plus the option to sell whenever you want.

Once I can get out of under these contracts (1 ends next month and another ends in Feb) how can I save? My plan is the old style talk/text with the unlimited data. The comparison the website gives me for mine vs the new mobile share plans shows the mobile share being more money per month

 

[Newtons Apple]

I have a special situation this year where I will be keeping my 6 and the 6s. 1 will turn into my work phone (new job, they offered me an iPhone but don't want to go that route for a couple reasons) which means I can write it off on my taxes.

I would much prefer my company to supply my phone vs me being able to write it off on taxes!

 

[mattopotamus]

Probably not worth buying it outright. The contract is what gives you that $450 discount which helps immensely. I too always used to buy a $200 iPhone on contract, and 2 years later sell it for around $325 which means after the worthless AT&T upgrade fees and whatnot, I always broke even or made a little bit of profit.

But if you pay full price at $650, and a year later you sell it for $500, you lose $150 every year.

You are forgetting your cell phone bill on contract is much higher for the same plan (unless on unlimited).

 

[mattopotamus]

Once I can get out of under these contracts (1 ends next month and another ends in Feb) how can I save? My plan is the old style talk/text with the unlimited data. The comparison the website gives me for mine vs the new mobile share plans shows the mobile share being more money per month

Prepaid is the only place where money is saved. If you are not a heavy data user, tons can be saved. I use cricket wireless (which uses ATT towers) and it is $35 a month for 2.5 data, unlimited talk/text. That same plan with ATT cost $60.

 

[thadoggfather]

i got a 6+ 64 unlocked in november last year, have an upgrade,

still sort of holding off on doing so, though debating it, cause even w/ 2 year its $399+tax for 6s+ 64

I would now be playing the screen lottery again and potentially other QC lotteries but that one stands out, waiting on JB if I decide to flip my 6+ running 8.4 and jailbroken before the next JB release and first one for iOS 9/new hardware, and throwing myself back in the x.0/ new gen hardware loop too which is always somewhat exciting but usually not without its caveats and quirks.

hmmm, not being able to keep unlimited data would have been a complete deal breaker too, but it seems i would be able to preorder on att and keep it..

 

[leenak]

I would much prefer my company to supply my phone vs me being able to write it off on taxes!

Well there are a few reasons... the biggest being their plan is limited minutes, unlimited data. I rather have my own phone with unlimited minutes. Plus this way I get a new phone 🙂 (They offer the 5s I think, maybe 6 now)

 

[leenak]

Once I can get out of under these contracts (1 ends next month and another ends in Feb) how can I save? My plan is the old style talk/text with the unlimited data. The comparison the website gives me for mine vs the new mobile share plans shows the mobile share being more money per month

Oh if you are on an unlimited plan, you might have to ask other AT&Ters how they got out from under having to pay the monthly fee that AT&T attaches to subsidized plans. I think if you buy a phone outright, add it to your plan, disconnect your old phone, then you will be safe but someone on an AT&T plan can give you better info on that.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Well there are a few reasons... the biggest being their plan is limited minutes, unlimited data. I rather have my own phone with unlimited minutes. Plus this way I get a new phone 🙂 (They offer the 5s I think, maybe 6 now)

That explains it. Enjoy your new iPhone.

 

[leenak]

Probably not worth buying it outright. The contract is what gives you that $450 discount which helps immensely. I too always used to buy a $200 iPhone on contract, and 2 years later sell it for around $325 which means after the worthless AT&T upgrade fees and whatnot, I always broke even or made a little bit of profit.

But if you pay full price at $650, and a year later you sell it for $500, you lose $150 every year.

It is hard to find the exact pricing but it appears AT&T charges between $15 to $25/month to those who buy phones subsidized. So at $15/month for 2 years, you have paid $360 more on your plan than those who bought their phones outright. It really depends on the numbers and maybe if AT&T is giving you a $450 discount, then you come ahead if you sell every 2 years but if you sell every year, it seems you can come further ahead than that.

 

[roberthodgson]

I upgrade every year to get the latest tech, I sell my current Iphone when I pickup my new one. this year my Iphone 6 was spoken for 3 months before the announcement of the 6S to the same lady who bought my 5S

if you sell your phone, save $2.00 per day by taking a coffee from home when head to work you can have the cash to upgrade every year. and if you buy specialty coffees you can save even more by skipping just one a day

 

[Djlild7hina]

I usually have a reason but this year I might actually wait it out. My mom wants my 6+ but I might just order her the 6s + and I'll upgrade to the 7 next year. If the 6s+ fixes all the issues that the 6+ had (rotating, slow multitasking, reloading, etc) I'd be happy but really don't feel like spending another grand with some issues I can put up with.

3G - first iPhone, 3GS faster and I screwed up my 3G swapping a red back, 4 retina, 4S faster and I screwed up making the 4 white (non oem) parts, S3 - wanted the bigger screen, 5S - too lazy to use android, 6 - wanted the bigger screen.

I'm interested in force touch, more ram, and rose gold but I'll just wait for once. I hope... Lol

 

[JXShine]

For those people who order a new phone every year. What's the motivation of getting the 6s?

I'm not being critical and I know different strokes for different folks but here's what I'm looking at.
View attachment 580898
932 dollars for a phone that will replace my current phone that is not even a year old yet.

The 6s has some nice features like force touch, and the camera was improved but dropping close to a 1,000 on a phone is shockingly expensive. I know I would offset the cost by selling my current one, but I'm wondering what's the basic motivation for those who do this often.

The 2GB Ram (if true) alone is the reason for me to upgrade. The original 6+ is so underpowered that I have endure animation lag and audio stutter everyday

 

[wesk702]

There always something I really want. This year it's the camera update which is major to me. If you don't see a good reason OP, don't get it. The 6 is still a kick ass phone.

The only upgrade which I ever kind of regretted was the 4S. After about a few months I could hardly tell any advantage over my wife's 4. And yes, that was my 4 hand me down lol.

She won't take that this year though since the rose gold is out X)

 

[MICHAELSD]

There's a certain enjoyment for techies like me to be able to experience every new feature, and to appreciate the design differences however minor some may be. My iPhone is my #1 most-used item so it is certainly not a waste of money. In fact, I've owned every (main) iPhone thus far and it seems that I'd be breaking a chain by skipping a release. It doesn't cost me that much to upgrade every year since I am very proficient at selling it, so it is definitely worth the minimal cost to be able to appreciate the differences between each iPhone model.

 

[thadoggfather]

I wonder if 6s+ will eliminate audio stutter, tabs reloading, and apps getting lost in the switcher, assuming 9.0 currently does with 6/6+

I'm on 8.4 on my 6+

 

[Kendo]

It is hard to find the exact pricing but it appears AT&T charges between $15 to $25/month to those who buy phones subsidized. So at $15/month for 2 years, you have paid $360 more on your plan than those who bought their phones outright. It really depends on the numbers and maybe if AT&T is giving you a $450 discount, then you come ahead if you sell every 2 years but if you sell every year, it seems you can come further ahead than that.

Actually I'm grandfathered in the unlimited plan so I pay $40 for voice, $30 for data, and $10 for unlimited text for a total of $80 (I do get a $17.60 discount from work that brings it down to around $62 a month). There's no other charge of $15 or $25 since that only applies to newer plans.

 

[maflynn]

I can understand the log of selling/buying due to resale value. I was running the numbers myself, but with out expenses in my life, I cannot justify the cost.

I'm looking at nearly 1,000 dollars , if I sell my phone for 500 (for the sake of discussion), that's 500 dollars out of pocket for a new phone to replace what is admittedly a good iPhone. Being a father of two 9 year olds who are quite active, that expense is hard to justify

 

[JonnyIreland]

I don't do drugs, I don't smoke & I drink only 3-4 times every year... I use my iPhone 5, 6, 7+ hours every day and aside from this I really enjoy using the iPhone in my life! It/Apple doesn't rule my life -I have plenty of other interests and hobbies - but I love my iPhone enough that it gets looked after pretty well and I get a great resale value for it every September.. So the $250-300 I spend upgrading spread over 52 weeks isn't so bad to justify for an item I use so heavily. I have to say that it cost me more than normal this year because of the weak Canadian Dollar/raise in price.

 

[JXShine]

I can understand the log of selling/buying due to resale value. I was running the numbers myself, but with out expenses in my life, I cannot justify the cost.

I'm looking at nearly 1,000 dollars , if I sell my phone for 500 (for the sake of discussion), that's 500 dollars out of pocket for a new phone to replace what is admittedly a good iPhone. Being a father of two 9 year olds who are quite active, that expense is hard to justify

The 6 is still a great phone so it's understandable that you don't want to upgrade. I think iOS 9 is only going to strengthen your decision because with safari content blocker installed, my 6 plus no longer struggles to run safari smoothly.

 

[maflynn]

The 6 is still a great phone so it's understandable that you don't want to upgrade. I think iOS 9 is only going to strengthen your decision because with safari content blocker installed, my 6 plus no longer struggles to run safari smoothly.

Exactly, and for needs which admittedly are probably less then others here, its fine. Being a member here for year, though I've seen so many people year in and year out upgrade and I was curious as to why.

Many just because they want too, others because it makes more financial sense to sell after year and re-buy then do it on a 2 year cycle.