Recent data from SellCell, a site for selling used smartphones, says that, although Apple’s iPhone remains the leader, Samsung’s AI-enhanced Galaxy S series is consistently closing the gap year over year.
If these trends continue, the resale value gap could narrow significantly by 2026, though upcoming flagship launches may influence the pace of change, the report claims. Here are key findings from SellCell’s report:
- iPhone depreciation worsened by 10.7 percentage points at 5 months post-launch, rising from 24.7% (iPhone 13) to 35.4% (iPhone 16).
- Samsung’s Galaxy S series improved by 5.3 percentage points in month 5, dropping from 51.9% (S22) to 46.6% (S25), continuing a steady upward trend.
- At 9 months, iPhone depreciation climbed from 25.2% (iPhone 12) to 34.7% (iPhone 16), showing that Apple’s AI hasn’t reversed the trend – yet!
- Galaxy S25’s 5-month depreciation of 46.6% is a slight 0.7-percentage point improvement over the S24 and 3.4 points better than the S23 at the same stage.
- While Apple still leads in resale value, the gap is narrowing, there’s now an 11.2-point difference at 5 months between Galaxy S25 and iPhone 16.
- Pixel 9 showed a 2.6-point year-on-year improvement at 10 months over Pixel 8, suggesting growing trust in Google’s AI-first flagship.
- Samsung’s Foldables surprised by depreciating 2.4 points less than the previous generation at 9 months, beating expectations.
- If depreciation trends continue to track in the same way, there is a strong possibility that Samsung’s Galaxy S series could possibly overtake Apple’s resale value by mid 2026 — a big shift in second-hand market leadership.
Methodology
SellCell aggregates resale pricing data from over 40 major U.S. buyback platforms. Its analysis focuses exclusively on mint-condition devices, tracking their resale values over time compared to original manufacturer’s suggested retail price.
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