Where Do Old iPhones Go - Mid-2025 Edition

As we think about whether AI enhancements in Apple Intelligence will motivate iPhone owners to upgrade (it really won’t), we realized that we haven’t reported on what new iPhone buyers do with their old devices recently. Increasingly, the old phones feed the global used smartphone market. This growing market has become even more prevalent in the past five years. Of course, many new iPhone buyers hold on to their old phones, too, either as backups for themselves or hand-me-downs for family and friends.

In the most recent twelve-month period, almost half of iPhone buyers reported either trading-in a previous phone, or selling it through a resale channel or to a cash buyer (Chart 1). Another 37% kept their previous phone, often to give to a family member or friend for whom their old model is an upgrade.