Apple's iPhone 4S and 5 may have been one of the most popular smartphones
of 2012 but that hasn't stopped customers cashing in on their previous
models.
Apple products
amassed to a huge 49% of the online gadget trade-in market in 2012,
according to data compiled by comparemymobile.com, an independent
recycling comparison site servicing £40million of gadget trade-ins since
its launch in 2009.
Nearly half of gadgets traded in last year were Apple devices, with
Samsung coming miles behind in second place with 18.5% of the market.
BlackBerry had 12%, with Nokia owning 8% and HTC 5%.
Astonishingly, the average price of a recycled gadget has risen 570%
since 2007, with the average recycled gadget getting £114, 31% up on
2011 prices.
The results have been accumulated using data, surveys and reviews
from more than two million users of comparemymobile.com, between January
and December last year, on gadgets including: Mobile phones, Digital
cameras, Games consoles, iPads, Tablets, Kindles, iPods, Laptops/Macbook
and Sat Navs.
The results show that two of the top five gadgets traded in during 2012 were Apple products, with the iPhone 4
16GB covering 17% of devices that were sold, and the iPhone 3GS 16GB
taking 7% of the market. The BlackBerry 8520 was the third most
traded-in, with the Samsung S and S2 taking fourth and fifth.
Unsurprisingly Apple dominated the mobile phone chart too; the iPhone
5 64GB was deemed the most valuable phone in 2012 at £410, whilst the
32GB and 16GB version were valued at £390 and £377 respectively, and it
was the introduction of the iPhone 5 that undoubtedly had a huge effect
on the number of iPhone devices being traded in last year. The release
of Apple’s latest mobile device led to a massive 367% spike in iPhone
trade-ins between the beginning of September and the beginning of
October, following the unveiling of the iPhone 4S’ successor.
Meanwhile, Apple will be pleased at the price retention of the iPad.
Data shows that the iPad was the strongest investment in 2012, losing
just 8.7% of its value on average in the 12 months of 2012, considerably
less than the 30% average loss in value of the Samsung Galaxy Tab
during the same period.
