PSA: Apple trade-in will value your iPhone at $0 if it has any damage

If you’re planning on using Apple trade-in to upgrade to an iPhone 16, you’ll want to quickly book it in for repair if it has any damage.

As one of my fellow tech writers discovered, Apple doesn’t just deduct the necessary repair fee from the value of your device (which could cost as little as $29 if you have AppleCare) – the company instead declares your phone worthless …

Macworld’s Michael Simon discovered this when prepping for his upgrade.

Apple offers up to $650 for trade-ins, and I assumed my phone, the 256GB version of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, would get at or near that. But when I began to answer Apple’s overly simplistic questions about the condition of my phone, I quickly discovered it wouldn’t.

The problem? The back glass of my iPhone is cracked. I dropped it some months ago (without a case) and since the front glass is completely unaffected, held off on fixing it despite having AppleCare+. I assumed Apple would merely deduct the $29 cost of the repair when going through the trade-in process.

Apparently that’s not how it works. In fact, Apple wouldn’t take my phone at all when I checked the “No” box under “Is the body of your iPhone in good shape?” Apple informed me that my trade-in value would be $0.

Instead, the company offered to recycle it for him.

He was able to book it in for a $29 repair ahead of tomorrow’s pre-orders opening, but there’s very little time left now for anyone who needs to do the same.

Given that Apple offers fixed-price repairs with or without AppleCare, it does seem odd that it can’t simply deduct that cost from the trade-in value offered. Either way, it’s relying on the honesty of the owner on damage declarations when calculating the provisional trade-in value, and it will adjust it on receipt of the phone if the owner’s description was inaccurate, so there’s no risk to the company.

Personally, I’m a coward, so always keep my iPhone in a case, and am selling mine to a friend for Apple’s trade-in price (as that’s what I’d have done otherwise), but if you are planning to trade-in a damaged phone, you’ll want to get it repaired beforehand.

Photo: iFixit