Apple Again Leads in Smartphone Resale Value With iPhone 15

Apple's iPhone 15 lineup sets a new standard in value retention, outperforming its predecessors and leading the pack among 2023 flagship smartphones, a new report finds.

iPhone 15 Pro Lineup Feature
New data from SellCell, an aggregator of buyback prices from over 40 vendors, reveals that the ‌iPhone 15‌ range, particularly the 256GB Pro Max model, is depreciating at a notably slower rate compared to other flagship models released in 2023, including those from Samsung, Google, and OnePlus.

Since its launch, the ‌iPhone 15‌ series has shown strong market value resilience. Initially, the range experienced an average depreciation of 28.8% in the first month. Intriguingly, this figure improved to 27.1% in the second month, indicating a regained value before a slight rise to 27.9% in the third month. Currently, the series stands at a depreciation of 27.4%, underscoring a trend of consistent value retention.

In comparison, Samsung's Galaxy S23 series was unable to match Apple's value retention. The S23 range saw a depreciation of 42.4% by the end of the first month, 43.5% in the second, and 44.5% by the third. This sequence highlights a much more significant drop in value than Apple's rival smartphone series, but it does represent a slight improvement over the company's previous S22 lineup.

The OnePlus 11 series demonstrated a depreciation of 51.5% after two months, recovering to 48.5% in the third month. Google's Pixel 8 range struggled more significantly, with the flagship 1TB Pixel 8 Pro model losing 68.1% of its value in the first month and maintaining this level in the subsequent months.

The ‌iPhone 15‌ range is also noticeably stronger in value retention compared to the iPhone 14. Apple's latest devices are depreciating up to 11% less across all models, averaging a 5% better value retention than the ‌iPhone‌ 14 range in the same post-launch period. Specifically, the 256GB ‌iPhone 15‌ Plus model shows a remarkable depreciation of only 11.3% less than its ‌iPhone‌ 14 equivalent.

Overall, the data reinforces the longstanding trend of the ‌iPhone‌ being the best smartphone for value retention and there are indications that this may even be improving further generation-over-generation. Buyers continue to be better off buying an Apple device if resale or trade-in is an essential future prospect.

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Top Rated Comments

Timo_Existencia Avatar
19 months ago

This is referencing the 256gb Pro Max model.
Actually, the numbers quoted are an "average" of all models. I'm not sure why this article calls out the 256gb Pro Max. But, click on the article and you can see the chart for all models.

One thing I found interesting (in light of certain other threads today), the larger SSD you buy initially, the worse is your depreciation. The 256 gb models tend to depreciate less.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ssspinball Avatar
19 months ago
Seems like those interested in Samsung devices would be smart to buy a very slightly used model at a whopping half off.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ACHD Avatar
19 months ago

This is referencing the 256gb Pro Max model.
people commonly buy the brand new devices at or just below retail to take advantage of a variety of offers and deals and profit on it.


This is pretty common and inflates the resell value of the current models.

A lot of foreign people will buy US made products of the latest model to to either take back with them or export out for additional profit
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
erikkfi Avatar
19 months ago

What's the point of tracking the resale value of the newest model of iPhone? I don't really care what it is, as I don't sell or trade my old devices, but still...who is reselling a 15?
I resold my 13 Pro after seven months because I found the weight annoying. It can happen!
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
erikkfi Avatar
19 months ago

What did you replace it with? I've never been happy with the weight of my 13 Pro.
A 13 Mini. Since those aren't available anymore, a regular 14 or 15 might be worth checking out. They're more than a full ounce lighter than the 13 Pro, but the 13 Mini is a further full ounce lighter and is just right for me.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
klasma Avatar
19 months ago

But I'd think that works in reverse. There would be a ton of 256gb models on the market, and very few 512 or 1T models, thus upping the value of the higher storage models.
I think there’s very few people who have an actual need for that much storage but want to buy a used phone. Buying a used phone is primarily for financial reasons (so this is an extra filter compared to the market for new phones), and when you want to save money you’ll also be reluctant to spend extra on more storage. On the seller side, I can imagine that people with buyer’s remorse tend to realize they don’t actually need that much storage (even when that’s not the primary reason for the resale). So there’s a bias that defavors the higher storage tiers (even more) on the used market.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)