Image: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
What to do with your old phone? If it’s an iPhone, there’s a good chance you can resell it. But a market analyst firm reports that a significant percentage of Androids get pitched out because they aren‘t worth anything. They apparently can’t even be given away.
One result is that not very many Androids are resold. The rate is about half that of iPhones.
A third of older Androids have so little value they’re thrown out
Androids lose their value twice as fast as iPhones. That fact explains why so many people are willing to pay a relatively high price for an iOS device rather than choosing a cheap Android — they know they can recoup much of the cost by reselling the device.
And 41% of older iPhones are eventually resold or traded in, according to a new report from analysts at Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. Another 40% are given to a family member or friend, or kept as a backup. Only 19% of older iOS devices fall into the disposed of category: broken, recycled or lost.
In contrast, 30% of Androids have to be disposed of. And that does not include devices that are given away to a family member or friend or put in a drawer. That’s the fate of 53% of older Androids.
Which means a mere 17% of Androids retain enough value to be worth reselling or trading in. “It appears that monetizing an old Android phone is not a winning proposition,” said CIRP.
Androids last a shorter time
Don’t assume that iPhone and Android users upgrade to newer handsets after approximately the same amount of time just because one can be resold and the other must be thrown out. Another recent report by CIRP found that iPhone users keep their devices longer.
“We see that about one-third of new phone buyers who had an iPhone kept that phone for three years or more,” said the analysts. “Only 21% of new phone buyers who had an Android phone reported it was three or more years old.”
In short, Androids don’t last as long as iPhones and are more likely to become rubbish. iPhones last longer and are more likely to become a valuable resale or trade-in.