Apple released its iPhone 14 series smartphones on September 16. Looking at recent depreciation figures, a new report from Sellcell, a site for selling phones online, has a mixture of good and not-so-good news for Apple.
The base iPhone 14 model performing poorly in terms of value retention, but the Pro Max outperforming the iPhone 13 Pro Max and depreciating less.
What has caused higher depreciation across the standard models? Reports such as Bloomburg’s suggest that the cost-of-living crisis, coupled with a weak economy across the globe, has led to lower demand for the 14, which will influence value retention.
SellCell’s recent cost-of-living survey report corroborates these assertions. 37.5% of the US population won’t upgrade to the latest handset this year, as many people ditch luxury items in the face of rising price hikes across the board.
Not only that, but consumer’s perceived lack of innovation within the iPhone 14 base range has led to poor take-up of the device, post physical release, according to SellCell. This means demand is low on the resale market, too, so the value of the base range has dropped significantly.
Saying this, the iPhone 14 Pro / 14 Pro Max models are performing excellently, again according to Bloomberg reports.
SellCell sales data shows the 14 Pro/14 Pro Max is outstripping the iPhone 13 equivalent in terms of 10-day depreciation, losing less value on average across the four models than the 2021 iterations.
Consumers are already trading-in iPhone 14 series smartphones; and buyers have already set the after market prices across the full iPhone range. SellCell has analyzed the resale values of the iPhone 14 against its MSRP, to understand the levels of depreciation vs. the same 10-day period after Apple launched the iPhone 13 in 2021.
Here are highlights from the report:
- The iPhone 14 512 GB is Apple’s worst performer of its 2022 handsets, losing 40.3% of its value in depreciation against its MSRP. The iPhone 13 Mini 512 GB was last year’s fastest depreciating model, losing 29.8%, followed by the iPhone 13 512 GB, losing 27.2%.
- The base range—the iPhone 14—lost the most value in the ten days since launch, dropping by 38.4% on average.
- This compares to the iPhone 13 base range, which only lost 18.2% of its value on average, in the same 10-day, post-launch period in 2021.
- iPhone 14 Pro Max series performs best overall, losing only 19.6% of its value on average, in 10 days, compared to the iPhone 13 Pro Max range, which lost 21.4% over the same time period.
- With deprecation at 18.2%, the 14 Pro Max 512 GB model is Apple’s best performer of 2022. 2021 saw the 13 256 GB performing best, losing only 9.9% of its value.
