Methodology

Prices checked 24 Sept 2026. 35 iPhone models, 40 countries.

New iPhone prices

Taken from each country's Apple Store, unlocked, by storage size. For the United States we use the unlocked price, which is about US$30 higher than the carrier-activated price.

What your old iPhone sells for

We show two groups of prices.

• Apple Trade In. Apple's own "up to" value for a phone in good condition, paid as credit toward a new iPhone. It is one figure per model, with no split by storage. Apple lowers the offer for wear or damage. We update these by hand from each country's Apple Trade In page.
• Local second-hand market. Buyback quotes published by local shops and services, and where available, prices from second-hand marketplaces. We label each one as a shop quote, sold prices (completed sales) or asking prices (listings). Asking prices below the best shop quote for the same phone are dropped as noise.

Sell it yourself (estimate). Where a country has shop quotes but no sold-price data, we estimate a private sale at the best local shop quote plus 10 to 20%. We set that range from three markets that have both numbers: in South Korea completed sales ran about 14% above the best shop quote, in the United States about 9%, and in Japan about 20% (checked 24 Sep 2026). It is always shown as an estimate.

Local second-hand (estimate). Some countries have no local second-hand source we can collect yet. For those we estimate one. In every country with real shop or sold prices, we take the best price for each model and storage as a share of that country's cheapest iPhone 18 Pro. Where at least three countries give a share, the estimate is the middle half of those shares (25th to 75th percentile) multiplied by the local iPhone 18 Pro price. It is labelled an estimate everywhere and is replaced as soon as a real local source is added.

Sources by country

Total damage

Total damage = new iPhone price − what your current iPhone sells for. The best case uses the highest price we have for your phone, the worst case the lowest. Per month and per day divide that by how long you plan to keep the new phone. If you pick "scuffed" or "cracked", sources that only quote a good-condition price are shown but left out of the total, unless they are the only source.

The verdict

The verdict adds and subtracts points. These are the rules as they run today:

• No longer gets iOS updates: strong push to upgrade.
• Age: 5+ years adds more than 3 to 4 years. 1 year or less counts against upgrading.
• Rated video playback 12+ hours longer on the new phone counts for it. 4 hours or less counts against.
• Battery health under 80% counts for upgrading, but if the phone still gets iOS updates and is 4 years old or less, we point out that a battery replacement is the cheaper fix.
• No Apple Intelligence counts for upgrading, more if you said you want the new Siri.
• What bothers you (battery, speed, camera, storage, cracked screen) adds points. "Nothing really" counts strongly against.
• If your phone still sells for 40% or more of the new one's price, that counts for upgrading now.

The result is shown as UPGRADE, MAYBE or KEEP IT on a five-step scale. It is a guide based on public specs and prices, not advice about your finances.

Specs

From Apple's compare and tech spec pages. Video playback hours use Apple's US figures; some regions list 1 to 2 hours less for the same model. iOS 27 runs on iPhone 11 and later. Apple Intelligence needs iPhone 15 Pro or later.

Known gaps

• Countries without local second-hand sources show Apple Trade In only.
• Singapore's Apple Trade In page shows no values.
• Resale prices change every week. Get a real quote before you sell.