Apple publishes no trade-in grading scale. There is no good, fair and poor table on its Trade In page, no list of faults with a dollar deduction beside each one, and no published wording for the questions it asks.
What Apple publishes is a method: answer a few questions about the device, take the estimate, and let Apple verify the condition before the credit is confirmed. That distinction matters, because a grade you cannot read is a grade you cannot game, and Apple checks the answers either way.
| Item | What Apple publishes |
|---|---|
| A condition grading scale | None published |
| What decides the value | “It depends on the device, model, manufacturer, and condition” |
| The footnote version | “condition, year, and configuration of the eligible trade-in device” |
| Apple’s instruction | “Answer a few questions accurately” |
| What accuracy buys | “you’ll most likely receive the full amount of the estimated refund” |
| The in-store check | A Specialist evaluates the device on the spot |
| Eligibility | “Not all devices are eligible for credit” |
| If there is no credit | The device is recycled free of charge |
| Estimate validity | 14 days after you receive the new device |
The variables Apple actually names
Across its Trade In page and the footnotes to the iPhone 18 Pro release, Apple names five things: device, model, manufacturer, condition and configuration, plus the year the device is from. Nothing else is published as a factor.
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Configuration is the one worth pausing on, because Apple lists it explicitly. Whether that means storage, connectivity or both is not spelled out, and we are not going to guess at it.
Condition is the variable everyone means when they say condition, and it is the only one you describe yourself. The other four are facts about the hardware that Apple can read off the device.
Why answering accurately is the whole exercise
Apple ties the full payout directly to the accuracy of your answers. Its published sentence runs: “Answer a few questions accurately, and once we receive the device within the specified time frame and verify its condition, you’ll most likely receive the full amount of the estimated refund.”
The counterpart to that sits in Apple’s in-store wording. A Specialist evaluates the device on the spot, so the credit “may differ from the estimated trade-in value you received online if the condition doesn’t match what you described.” Describing a device as better than it is does not produce a better number. It produces a corrected one, in front of you at the counter or after the box arrives at Apple.
What buyers assume, and what Apple publishes
| Common assumption | What Apple actually publishes |
|---|---|
| There is a published condition grade | No grading scale appears on Apple’s Trade In page |
| The estimate is the offer | It is an estimate, confirmed after Apple verifies the device |
| Every iPhone gets some credit | “Not all devices are eligible for credit” |
| A rejected device is posted back | Ineligible devices are recycled free of charge |
| Storage capacity is irrelevant | Apple names configuration as one of the variables |
| The value holds until you use it | The estimate is valid for 14 days after you receive the new device |
| Apple posts a per-model table | It routes buyers into a questionnaire instead |
The figures that do exist, and what they are
Apple states one range in its own words: an iPhone 13 or later gets “$175 to $885 (U.S.) in credit instantly”. Its Trade In page headline runs wider, at $35 to $885, because that span reaches back to models several generations older.
Both ends are ceilings. The $885 assumes an iPhone 17 Pro Max in good condition, and a phone that has been in a pocket with keys for two years is not that device. Against the $1,199 iPhone 18 Pro, the difference between the top and bottom of Apple’s own range is $710 before tax, which is our arithmetic on Apple’s published figures.
Per-model numbers circulating this week are values recorded for individual devices on the day Apple changed them, not a table Apple publishes. They are useful for direction of travel and nothing more.
What has not been confirmed
Apple has not published a grading rubric, the text of its condition questions, a deduction schedule for specific faults, a value for a damaged device, or any notice period before values change. It cut iPhone values on September 9 without announcing it. AppleCare+ pricing for every product launched this month is also unpublished.
Pre-orders open Saturday, September 12 at 5 a.m. PT and deliveries begin Friday, September 18, so take your estimate on the day you order. Our iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max comparison covers which model the credit is going toward, and the event recap has the rest of the lineup.
