Smartphones are expensive purchases but luckily some of them also hold their value after a few years so you can recoup some of the cost when you want to upgrade by selling your current handset. According to stats just released, Samsung is the Android brand whose phones hold their value best, though they’re no match for the iPhone.
New data from SellCell shows the Samsung Galaxy S23 series is the Android line up that held its value best since launch, depreciating up to 32.8% less than other new Android phones. In particular the Galaxy S23 Plus with 256GB storage came in 13th in SellCell’s rundown of the top 15 phones that lost the least value over time – though the 12 phones above it were all iPhones from the latest iPhone 15 line up.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB has lost just 18.2% of its value in the three months since its launch in September, while the entire iPhone 15 range overall has only dipped 27.4%.
By looking at average resale value after one month, two months, three months, and since launch, the data shows that if you prefer Android phones but want to make a bit of cash by selling on your device one day, Samsung is still the brand to go for. That said, one year after the S23’s launch, it’s a little galling to see every single model’s value has dipped by more than 50%.
The research, which was published with US Dollar pricing, shows the $1,199 Galaxy S23 Ultra now has an average resale value of $590, a dip of 50.8% that has seen a $609.99 plunge in value over a year.
Then again, that’s better than the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE which has conversely seen the biggest fall in price, with a 68.7% fall in value just three months after it came out.
Interestingly, phones with the highest storage capacities were not always found to hold their value better for longer, with the 1TB S23 Ultra falling 59.3% in value compared to the 512GB version going down 55.1%.
The Google Pixel 8 range has fallen 61.2% in value overall, notably more than the iPhone 15 range despite coming out a month later in October 2023. A 1TB Pixel 8 Pro has tumbled by $953 and can now be found secondhand for a cost of $446, according to the data.
That’s a worse dip compared to the OnePlus 11, which has 53.4% value since its launch in February 2023.
