Old second user iPhones worth more than the new iPhone 3G in USA

Davey Winder
Sunday, 20 July 2008 22:11

Your IT - Mobility

Which kind of explains why an unlocked original iPhone, upgraded to the Version 2.0 software, for around USD $100 (AUD $103) less starts to make sense. For now, it seems, that contract tie-ins will ensure that demand for old iPhones remains high within the American market. Even if that means a less well-featured handset.

Look outside of the US to those countries where Apple has not yet completed iPhone network deals, like China for example, and there is a ready made gray market which requires feeding. You only have to look at the prices that old iPhones are realising on eBay to appreciate the demand. 16GB handsets can easily make USD $400 (AUD $400) or more.

Then there is the value of the old iPhone for its component parts to consider. The New York Times quotes a FreeiPhoneSwap spokesman, Sam Hickson, as claiming that the screen alone is worth in the region of USD $200 (AUD $206)

One iPhone 3G FAQ suggests that the new handset "makes it pretty difficult to sell your original iPhone." That, it would appear, is most certainly not the case. For now.

The original iPhone has a particular value in particular markets, at this particular moment in time. The difficulty is in predicting how long that value will remain at the current peak before it starts to plummet faster than a lead balloon.