Smartphones: Aging Like Wine or Milk?

Consumers looking to buy a new smartphone these days are faced with the agony of choice. Aside from the question which platform and manufacturer they want to go with, there’s also the question of how much they’re willing to spend. You can buy a very decent phone for $500 or less these days, but you can just as easily spend more than $1,000.

The retail price is just one side of the equation, however, as many consumers sell on their used phones after they’ve got a year or two of good use out of them. According to resale platform SellCell, which helps consumers find the best price for their used devices, there’s a huge difference in how well phones hold their value.

According to SellCell’s analysis, iPhones have the lowest depreciation, putting their premium prices in a different perspective. Looking at resale prices of 2020 smartphone models on December 31, all top spots in SellCell’s ranking go to different iPhone 12 models, which lost between 31.7 and 43.8 percent of their value within the first year. Google’s Pixel 5 completes the top 5, despite seeing its price cut in half after one year of use.

At the other end of the scale, Motorola’s One Hyper and RAZR aged like milk, both depreciating 85 percent in just one year.