AppleInsider Staff
With Apple's US carrier partners charging existing subscribers higher fees for this year's iPhone model, AppleInsider took a closer look at trade in services that can help offset some of these added costs when you sell them your old iPhone.
While Apple's recycling program, which is run by PowerON, and Best Buy both offer gift cards to their stores in exchange for old iPhones, several other services provide cash in exchange.
The below comparison offers an idea of how much money customers can get for trading in their used iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S with some of the most popular services available. The trade in values shown are for iPhones in like-new condition, and as a result show the best-possible payment from each company. Actual trade-in values will vary for devices in worse-than-pristine shape, and you can click through the respective links to obtain a specific quote for the condition of your iPhone.
And since many iPhone users are unwilling to trade away their old iPhone until their new one arrives, many of the services offer to lock in trade value quotes for the next few weeks. For example, NextWorth, which is amongst the highest cash paying services, will lock in quotes for three full weeks — meaning you can wait to send them your handset until your iPhone 5 arrives at your door.
|  Good | Broken | |
| Current iPhone Trade-in Payouts (Oct 10th 2014) | |||
| iPhone 3G 16GB (AT&T or Unlocked) | $12 | $10 | $0 |
| iPhone 3G 8GB (AT&T or Unlocked) | $12 | $10 | $0 |
| iPhone 3G S 16GB (AT&T or Unlocked) | $12 | $10 | $5 |
| iPhone 3G S 32GB (AT&T or Unlocked) | $12 | $10 | $5 |
| iPhone 3G S 8GB (AT&T or Unlocked) | $12 | $10 | $5 |
| iPhone 4 16GB (AT&T or Unlocked) | $105 | $100 | $50 |
| iPhone 4 16GB (Verizon) | $80 | $75 | $30 |
| iPhone 4 32GB (AT&T or Unlocked) | $110 | $105 | $50 |
| iPhone 4 32GB (Verizon) | $82 | $77 | $30 |
| iPhone 4 8GB (AT&T or Unlocked) | $100 | $95 | $50 |
| iPhone 4 8GB (other) | $55 | $50 | $20 |
| iPhone 4 8GB (Sprint) | $65 | $60 | $20 |
| iPhone 4 8GB (T-Mobile) | $70 | $65 | $20 |
| iPhone 4 8GB (Verizon) | $65 | $60 | $20 |
| iPhone 4S 8GB (AT&T or Unlocked) | $170 | $160 | $70 |
| iPhone 4S 8GB (other) | $130 | $120 | $50 |
| iPhone 4S 8GB (Sprint) | $150 | $140 | $60 |
| iPhone 4S 8GB (T-Mobile) | $150 | $140 | $60 |
| iPhone 4S 8GB (Verizon) | $150 | $140 | $60 |
| iPhone 4S 16GB (AT&T or Unlocked) | $175 | $165 | $80 |
| iPhone 4S 16GB (other) | $140 | $130 | $60 |
| iPhone 4S 16GB (Sprint) | $160 | $150 | $65 |
| iPhone 4S 16GB (T-Mobile) | $160 | $150 | $65 |
| iPhone 4S 16GB (Verizon) | $160 | $150 | $65 |
| iPhone 4S 32GB (AT&T or Unlocked) | $180 | $170 | $80 |
| iPhone 4S 32GB (other) | $140 | $130 | $60 |
| iPhone 4S 32GB (Sprint) | $165 | $155 | $65 |
| iPhone 4S 32GB (Verizon) | $165 | $155 | $65 |
| iPhone 4S 64GB (AT&T or Unlocked) | $185 | $175 | $80 |
| iPhone 4S 64GB (other) | $140 | $130 | $60 |
| iPhone 4S 64GB (Sprint) | $170 | $160 | $65 |
| iPhone 4S 64GB (Verizon) | $170 | $160 | $65 |
| iPhone 5 16GB (AT&T or Unlocked) | $280 | $270 | $110 |
| iPhone 5 16GB (other) | $210 | $200 | $80 |
| iPhone 5 16GB (Sprint) | $210 | $200 | $80 |
| iPhone 5 16GB (T-Mobile) | $250 | $240 | $80 |
| iPhone 5 16GB (Verizon) | $290 | $280 | $110 |
| iPhone 5 32GB (AT&T or Unlocked) | $285 | $275 | $110 |
| iPhone 5 32GB (other) | $215 | $205 | $80 |
| iPhone 5 32GB (Sprint) | $215 | $205 | $80 |
| iPhone 5 32GB (T-Mobile) | $260 | $250 | $80 |
| iPhone 5 32GB (Verizon) | $295 | $285 | $110 |
| iPhone 5 64GB (AT&T or Unlocked) | $290 | $280 | $110 |
| iPhone 5 64GB (other) | $220 | $210 | $80 |
| iPhone 5 64GB (Sprint) | $220 | $210 | $80 |
| iPhone 5 64GB (T-Mobile) | $270 | $260 | $80 |
| iPhone 5 64GB (Verizon) | $300 | $290 | $110 |
Although Amazon offers store credit instead of cash, we've included the retailer in the comparison chart along with the other cash-paying services because of its high trade in quotes and the broader selection of general merchandise that can be purchased with its store credit, as opposed to Apple and Best Buy, which only sell electronics.
However, it should be noted that the Amazon gift cards can be used on items available on the retailers main site, they are not valid for use at the Amazon Wireless store, which is the site that sells smartphones.
In the case of each trade in services, trade in values are subject to vary on a daily or hourly basis until they've been locked in.
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Oliver Haslam
33 Comments
EBay.
Price? Pricey? In any case, this is a great idea for those of us with full high-capacity models who will have to shell out more just to keep all our stuff. Feel a bit of a mug paying apple so much more for increasingly-needed storage when USB drives & solid-state storage cards are so cheap now.
Price? Pricey?
It's right. Informal, maybe, but right. THIS, on the other hand…
The table shows Amazon is offering $500 for my black 64GB AT&T 4S but it's actually $450 when I follow the link. There's two problems with trying to do this: 1) I get amazon credit. What if amazon doesn't sell the phone I want to get? 2) I have to trade in before I can buy a new phone, leaving me without a phone. no way to really use the proceeds directly.
"How to offset the cost of your pricey new iPhone 5" Oh, so now AI officially labels Apple gear as "pricey" even though the prices are the same as last year. Why not just go ahead and call them "overpriced" like the trolls do and be done with it. AI is starting to become extremely annoying.