I track used phone prices every day across Swappa, Back Market, eBay, Gazelle, Reebelo and a couple dozen buyback companies. One of the questions I get the most is some version of "which iPhone should I buy if I care about what it's worth later?"
So here's the answer, model by model, using real prices instead of guesses.
How I measured it
For every iPhone, I took the base storage size, in Good condition, unlocked. Then I compared the median price it's selling for across the marketplaces we track against what Apple charged for that same configuration on launch day.
That gives you one number: the share of the launch price the phone still brings in. An iPhone that launched at $799 and sells for $535 today has kept 67% of its value.
A model only counts if at least two marketplaces have it listed, so one weird listing can't skew anything.
Source: Andover Analytics daily marketplace prices, fall 2026.
The short version
- Year one is cheap. The iPhone 17 is still selling for about 95% of its launch price after more than a year. The 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max are around 86%.
- Year two is where it hits. The iPhone 16 lineup sits between 63% and 67% at a little over two years old.
- Three years gets you to about half. The iPhone 15, 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are all right around 50%.
- After that it flattens out. The iPhone 13 and 14 are in the low to mid 30s, and the iPhone 11 and 12 are around 22%.
If you want a rule of thumb: an iPhone loses roughly a third of its value by year two, half by year three, and then it slows way down.
The iPhone 17 is an outlier, and there's a reason
95% after a year is not normal. Part of it is that the base iPhone 17 launched with 256GB at $799, which made it a lot of phone for the money. Used buyers know that, and they're paying for it.
The iPhone 17e is doing the same thing at about 92%. Cheap new phones with good specs hold their value well in percentage terms because there's not much room to fall.
The iPhone Air is the one that didn't
The iPhone Air launched at $999 and is selling for about 75% of that. That's 10 to 20 points worse than every other iPhone from the same year. Thin was a cool idea, but used buyers aren't paying a premium for it. If you bought one and you're thinking about switching, the longer you wait the more that gap is going to cost you.
Pro Max holds up better as phones age
When phones are new, the Pro and Pro Max don't hold value much better than the base model. In fact the base iPhone 16 (67%) is doing slightly better than the 16 Pro (63%) right now.
That flips as they get older. Look at the four year old phones:
| Model | Launch price | Sells for now | Kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 14 Pro Max | $1,099 | $470 | 43% |
| iPhone 14 Pro | $999 | $390 | 39% |
| iPhone 14 | $799 | $275 | 34% |
| iPhone 14 Plus | $899 | $300 | 33% |
Same story with the iPhone 13 generation. The 13 Pro Max kept 38%, the 13 Mini kept 29%. Big screens and better cameras stay in demand longer, and the people buying a four year old phone tend to want the best four year old phone they can get.
The models that lose the most
If resale value matters to you, these are the ones to think twice about:
- Plus models. The 14 Plus and 15 Plus trail the rest of their lineup.
- Mini models. The 12 Mini and 13 Mini are near the bottom of their generations.
- SE models. The iPhone SE (2022) has kept 29% after four and a half years, and the 2020 SE is at 25%. They were cheap to begin with, and there's just not much demand for a small screen and a home button anymore.
- The Air, for the reason above.
When to sell
Here's something that surprised me when I first looked at it. Over the last six months, iPhones less than two years old dropped about 7% in price. iPhones older than that barely moved at all.
So if you have a newer iPhone and you know you're going to sell it, sooner is better. Every month you wait costs you a little over 1%.
If you have an older iPhone, there's no rush. A four year old iPhone 14 is going to be worth about the same next spring as it is today.
If you're buying used
The flip side of all this is that the sweet spot for buying is a phone that's two to three years old. Most of the depreciation has already happened, so you're not eating it, and the phone still has a lot of life left.
Right now that's the iPhone 15 and 16 generations. An iPhone 15 Pro Max at about half its launch price is a pretty good deal for a phone that still gets every iOS update.
Common questions
Do iPhones hold their value better than Samsung phones?
Yes, and by a lot. At about three years old, the iPhone 15 has kept around 50% of its launch price. The Galaxy S24, at roughly the same age, has kept about 39%. I broke down the Galaxy numbers in How fast Samsung phones lose value.
How much is a 3 year old iPhone worth?
Usually about half of what it cost new, in Good condition and unlocked. Storage, condition and carrier lock all move that number, so check your exact phone on our price pages.
Which iPhone loses value the fastest?
Right now, the iPhone Air. Among older phones, the Mini and SE models have lost the most.
Does more storage hold value better?
Not in percentage terms. Bigger storage sells for more dollars, but it usually keeps a smaller share of its launch price because Apple charges a lot for the upgrade and used buyers won't pay all of it back.
If you want to see these numbers for every model, sorted however you like, the Value Retention page in Andover is free with an account. It updates every day.