When Apple unveiled the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus alongside the iPhone X last month, there was some concern among my colleagues and others in the media that consumers would skip out on the iPhone 8 altogether and wait for the X. Several reports seem to indicate that this has indeed been the case in the weeks since the iPhone 8 family launched, and on Monday, we received new information that backs up our initial concerns.
According to device recycling site Decluttr.com, there have been more iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus trade-ins at this point in the phone’s life cycle than in the same period after any other previous iPhone launch.
“Following the recent Apple launch, all the buzz and excitement has been around the iPhone X,” said Decluttr CMO Liam Howley. “The iPhone 8 has perhaps been less well received than previous handsets from what we’re being told in the tech press and we’re now actually seeing that for ourselves, through our own customers’ trade-ins.”
Decluttr says that based on the depreciation stats, now is the best time to trade in an old iPhone (8 or otherwise). Consumers can get up to 30% more from the transaction if they trade in an old iPhone before Apple’s October 27th preorder date for the iPhone X. If you want to upgrade to the iPhone X, now is the time to trade.
“Many customers have obviously decided that they would prefer to sell the iPhone 8 while its value is at its highest, up to $630 for the 8 Plus, and put the money towards the new iPhone X which will cost $999 but comes with a host of new features, such as an edge-to-edge display, facial recognition, emoji’s and OLED technology.”
