Apple’s Spring Cleaning Means More Cash For Your Old Gear
Semeon Hrozian
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This week, Apple updated the trade-in credit it’s willing to offer for several recent iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models, while also slightly lowering the value of higher-end Mac configurations and third-party smartphones.
While Apple isn’t always the best way to get the most value from your old iPhone, it is one of the easiest — especially when you’re upgrading. That’s because you can get the trade-in credit taken off up-front but wait to ship back the old iPhone until your new one is up and running in your hands. Apple will even send you the box to ship it back in.
In that light, today’s adjustments might be welcome news if you’ve been on the fence about taking the plunge into an iPhone 17, or even anticipating the new iPhone 18 Pro when it arrives this fall (assuming Apple doesn’t adjust its trade-in values again before then).
Here are the new US trade-in values for the iPhone 16 lineup, as first spotted by MacRumors:
| Model | New Trade-in Value | Old Trade-in Value |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone 16 Pro Max | $695 | $685 |
| iPhone 16 Pro | $560 | $550 |
| iPhone 16 Plus | $465 | $455 |
| iPhone 16 | $460 | $435 |
Interestingly, it’s the standard iPhone 16 that gets the healthiest bump with a $25 increase. The others are only going up by $10, but as the old saying goes, ten bucks is still ten bucks.
Many folks also don’t realize that Apple will take in rival smartphones in trade for an iPhone, although the values on a few of these have dropped precipitously in today’s update, with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra — the highest-end model Apple accepts — now only fetching $200 (down from $230), and Google’s Pixel 8 Pro going from $170 down to $165.
Trading In Beyond the iPhone
Apple has also adjusted trade-in values for most of its other mainstream products, including nearly the entire iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch lineups (the Vision Pro remains out of the trade-in program, so no changes there).
However, Apple has upped the potential trade-in values of every current iPad model:
| Model | New Trade-in Value | Old Trade-in Value |
|---|---|---|
| iPad Pro | Up to $690 | Up to $670 |
| iPad Air | Up to $460 | Up to $445 |
| iPad | Up to $235 | Up to $220 |
| iPad mini | Up to $265 | Up to $250 |
Note that these are maximum trade-in values, and would likely only apply to the latest Wi-Fi + Cellular models in good condition.
Mac trade-in values are more of a mixed bag, especially if you’re looking to trade in a higher-end configuration.
| Model | New Trade-in Value | Old Trade-in Value |
|---|---|---|
| MacBook Pro | Up to $690 | Up to $685 |
| MacBook Air | Up to $520 | Up to $485 |
| iMac | Up to $355 | Up to $355 |
| iMac Pro | Up to $315 | Up to $325 |
| Mac mini | Up to $375 | Up to $340 |
| Mac Studio | Up to $1,045 | Up to $975 |
| Mac Pro | Up to $2,045 | Up to $2,090 |
Ironically, the Mac Studio gets a nice trade-in boost of $70, while the Mac Pro drops by $45, and the iMac Pro (the 2017 model that it’s hard to believe Apple is still accepting for trade-in) goes down by $10.
Lastly, Apple has also adjusted a few Apple Watch trade-in values:
| Apple Watch Model | New Trade-in Value | Old Trade-in Value |
|---|---|---|
| Ultra 2 | Up to $305 | Up to $295 |
| Ultra | Up to $205 | Up to $215 |
| Series 10 | Up to $150 | Up to $150 |
| Series 9 | Up to $130 | Up to $120 |
| Series 8 | Up to $90 | Up to $90 |
| Series 7 | Up to $65 | Up to $65 |
| Series 6 | Up to $45 | Up to $45 |
| SE 2 | Up to $60 | Up to $55 |
| SE 1 | Up to $30 | Up to $30 |
While the values for the Apple Watch Ultra 2, Series 9, and SE 2 have increased slightly, the original Apple Watch Ultra has actually gone down, and the rest remain the same as before.
Again, there’s no guarantee how long these trade-in values will remain in effect, as Apple adjusts them at least a couple of times each year, so we wouldn’t recommend banking on them for when new Apple products come out down the road. However, they might be just enough of a nudge for anyone who has already been eyeing an upgrade.
