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iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 15 MaxPro lost 50% of its value in just 18 months - rediculous!

lensplay said:
I bought a brand-new iPhone 15 ProMax back in November 2023 for around $1,380, and now, in May 2025, it is only valued at $630. This is absolutely ridiculous.
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This is why it is financially foolish to buy any brand new phone post-2020 unless you're getting a trade-in deal.

Smartphones have largely plateaued in capabilities. The "innovations" that happen don't meaningfully make 95% of users' lives better, but are just minor cool "nice-to-have" features (e.g. the iPhone did just fine for 15+ years without an action button).

Buy used phones. That's it. That's the lesson here. You don't NEED the "latest and greatest," when being "greatest" means only marginal improvements over last year's (or even a two year old) phone that you can probably only experience in a benchmark app or a high-end game that most people aren't playing.
 
throAU said:
Given that the typical expected lifespan for a phone is 2-3 years, you're approximately 50% into that time-frame so 50% retained value sounds about right.
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This is not 2019, my friend. Post 2020 pretty much all non-budget smartphones can EASILY last someone 5 years minimum if taken care of. No one should be replacing their fully functional phone after just 2 years, arguably even 3.
 
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lensplay said:
Hi there,
I bought a brand-new iPhone 15 ProMax back in November 2023 for around $1,380, and now, in May 2025, it is only valued at $630. This is absolutely ridiculous.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my iPhone 15 ProMax, but a devaluation of more than 50% in just 18 months is just not acceptable.
Apple, with their annual and permanent releases of new devices is forcing customers to permanently purchasing new iPhones and Macs almost every year.
The iPhone 15 Plus is still available at the Mac Store, not so all the Pro models.
Maybe this will be my last iPhone Pro model I ever purchased.
My Apple History:
Since the release of the original iPhone back in 2007 I only used iPhones.
Since 1993 I exclusively used Macs, notebooks and desktops, iMacs.
But I am really getting tired of all their insane and greedy product upgrade strategy.
Good luck to all of you - and choose wisely.
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There is nothing rediculous [sic] about the used value of iPhones.
 
izzy0242mr said:
This is not 2019, my friend. Post 2020 pretty much all non-budget smartphones can EASILY last someone 5 years minimum if taken care of. No one should be replacing their fully functional phone after just 2 years, arguably even 3.
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I'm not talking about how long they can last, I am talking about the intended lifespan of the device both for tax deduction purposes, phone plan purposes and budget planning purposes.

Push your phone to 5, 7 or whatever years.

It doesn't make it worth any more second-hand when the value for tax/depreciaton/software lifecycle/budget purposes is 50%.
 
throAU said:
I'm not talking about how long they can last, I am talking about the intended lifespan of the device both for tax deduction purposes, phone plan purposes and budget planning purposes.

Push your phone to 5, 7 or whatever years.

It doesn't make it worth any more second-hand when the value for tax/depreciaton/software lifecycle/budget purposes is 50%.
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But that's my point…for budget planning purposes, get a last-gen used phone and save 30-50% of the cost and then keep it for 5+ years. A phone that retails at $1000 that you instead buy for $600 a year later when it's not brand new has instantly resulted in a $400 savings for you by comparison. And if you keep your $600 phone for 5 years then you're spending an average of $120 a year instead of foolishly spending $1000 (which would come out to anywhere from $166/year if you kept if for 6 years and $200/year if you kept it for 5).
 
izzy0242mr said:
But that's my point…for budget planning purposes, get a last-gen used phone and save 30-50% of the cost and then keep it for 5+ years. A phone that retails at $1000 that you instead buy for $600 a year later when it's not brand new has instantly resulted in a $400 savings for you by comparison. And if you keep your $600 phone for 5 years then you're spending an average of $120 a year instead of foolishly spending $1000 (which would come out to anywhere from $166/year if you kept if for 6 years and $200/year if you kept it for 5).
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Where do you think used phones come from?
 
lensplay said:
...
Apple, with their annual and permanent releases of new devices is forcing customers to permanently purchasing new iPhones and Macs almost every year.
Click to expand...

Get out of here with this nonsense.

Yearly iPhone updaters are >10%, and I have no idea on mac, but I would put it waaaay less than that. No one is forced to update yearly, every other year, or even every other three.

Also, this is another brand new poster, ranting, or just posting then never coming back. Yawn...
 
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grammatica said:
Apple products are not assets. Frankly, they're like a car: If you want the best value, buy used.
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Actually, I think they are assets. Depreciating assets.

My pet peeve around this subject is this: I wish people would stop referring to their new MacBook or iPhone as an “investment”.

Investments appreciate in value over time. A MacBook definitely does not.
 
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