What your phone is worth after one, two and three years
The shape of the curve matters more than any single number on it — and the shape is the same for almost every phone.
People ask for a percentage. The useful answer is a shape, because the shape is the same for almost every phone and it explains the decisions you actually have to make.
Year one: the steepest part
A phone loses more value in its first year than in any year afterwards, and it does so without anything being wrong with it. The moment it stops being the current model it stops being priced like one — and for most of that year it is competing with a brand-new version of itself that is still on sale at a discount.
This is why the advice on timing is always the same: the best time to sell is when you stop using it, not when you finally get around to it.
Year two: the flattening begins
The fall continues but slows. By now the phone is a known quantity in the second-hand market, and there is real demand for it from people who want that phone at that price. A well-kept two-year-old flagship is one of the easiest devices to sell.
Year three and beyond: age stops being the story
The curve flattens. From here condition, battery health and whether the phone still gets software updates matter more than another twelve months on the clock. A three-year-old phone in good order with a healthy battery can be worth more than a two-year-old one that has been dropped twice.
What moves the whole curve down
A launch. When a manufacturer releases the new flagship, every older model in that line is repriced against it — your phone did not change, its neighbours did. Apple's second-half launches and Samsung's early-year ones move the most.
Flagship or budget
A flagship falls by more in money and less in proportion: it started high and there is durable demand for it used. A budget phone falls by less in money and more in proportion, because a new budget phone is cheap enough to compete with a used one. Why that happens.
What you control
Not the curve. Only where inside a model's range you land: the panel, the body, the battery, whether the parts are original, and whether you still have the bill. And when you get off the curve — which is the one that costs people the most.
See what your phone is worth
A price in about a minute, free doorstep pickup in a two-hour slot, and paid — cash or bank transfer — before our agent leaves.
Questions people ask
- How much value does a phone lose in the first year?
- More than in any year that follows. The exact figure depends on the model and the market, but the shape is consistent: the steepest part of the curve is at the start, which is why selling early beats selling eventually.
- Do flagships hold value better than budget phones?
- In proportion, generally yes — demand for a second-hand flagship stays strong for longer. In money terms, a flagship falls further, because it started higher.
- Does keeping the phone in perfect condition stop depreciation?
- No. Condition decides where inside a model's price range you land. Age and the market decide where that range is.