If the Galaxy S20 loses value like the S10 or Pixel 3, iPhone's price retention matters
Samsung bucked the flagship price depreciation trends against the iPhone with the Galaxy S7-S9 handsets, and those aged rather gracefully in comparison with other Android high-enders. In fact, back in the summer of 2017 we ran the numbers, and found out that the Galaxy S8 lost less value than the iPhone X per month in absolute dollar terms.
Dollar value depreciation of major flagships in 2017
Samsung Galaxy S20 vs Galaxy S10 prices and value retention
Android vs iPhone prices and value retention
- iOS devices lose an average of -23.45% of their resale value in the first year, with 4 year loses ranging between 45% to 33.09% year on year
- Compared to iPhones, on average, Android flagship phones depreciate twice as fast, losing 45.18% of their trade-in value in the first year (iPhone’s lose 45.46% on average by the end of year two).
- Android devices suffer huge trade-in losses of 71.41% to 79.66% in the first 2 years, then depreciation less than 10% in years 3&4.
- Budget Android resale value drops are the most aggressive, losing half of their resale value in one year, with an average decline across the brands of -48.65%.
- Owners of the 7 most traded in Google phones in 2019 lost –69% to -56.70% of the value of their phone in 12 months, on average losing half!!!
When it comes to iPhone, however, even though Apple almost never slashes prices before the next batch is in, making them hold their value for longer, there are some ups and downs by model.
- Owners of the 10 most traded in iPhones in 2019 lost -21.55% to -39.61% of the value of their phone in 12 months.
- 2016’s iPhone 7 was the fastest depreciating out of the 10 most sold iPhones on the site at -38.19%.
- 2018’s iPhone XS Max lost the highest value, -$176 between Jan-Dec 2019 and was also the highest physical value lost across all iPhone’s (ignoring popularity).
All in all, Apple’s pricing strategy proves a winner for the iPhone value retention overall but, with a recession looming, and the Galaxy S-line average pricing surpassing the iPhone’s for the first time, all bets are off for the Galaxy S20 family.