Your old iPhone is worth three different numbers this week, and only one of them is money that comes off the price of an iPhone 18 Pro on the day you buy it. Apple credits $175 to $885 instantly, a US carrier advertises up to $1,200 but pays it as bill credits over 24 to 36 months, and a private sale pays whatever you can arrange, with no published figure anywhere.
One thing changed on the day of the Surprise and Shine event that applies to all three. Every iPhone trade-in value recorded at Apple fell on September 9, some by as much as $120, so the phone in your pocket is worth less toward the new one than it was the week before.
| Route | Headline number | When you get it | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Trade In | $175 to $885, iPhone 13 or later | Instantly, at checkout | The ceiling needs a flawless iPhone 17 Pro Max |
| Carrier credit | Up to $1,200, iPhone 14 or later | Monthly bill credits over 24 to 36 months | A qualifying plan, and you have to stay for the term |
| Sell it yourself | No published figure | When a buyer pays you | Fees, shipping, risk, and no credit at checkout |
What Apple actually publishes
Apple’s own words are a range, not a table: customers trading in an iPhone 13 or later can get $175 to $885 in credit instantly. The Trade In page carries no per-model dollar list at all, only a questionnaire, and Apple describes the outcome as depending on “the device, model, manufacturer, and condition” once it has received and verified the phone.
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The per-model figures below are values recorded for individual models rather than a table Apple publishes, and each is an upper bound for a device in good condition. A cracked screen, a swollen battery or a failed diagnostic quotes lower, sometimes much lower.
| Trade-in | Value now | Value before September 9 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 16 Pro Max | $610 | $720 | Down $110 |
| iPhone 16 Pro | $510 | $630 | Down $120 |
| iPhone 15 Pro Max | $455 | $530 | Down $75 |
| iPhone 15 Pro | $370 | $420 | Down $50 |
| iPhone 14 Pro | $285 | $335 | Down $50 |
| iPhone 13 | $175 | $205 | Down $30 |
The word doing the work in Apple’s sentence is instant. The credit is applied to the purchase, which means it also reduces the amount you finance if you are paying at $49.95 a month over 24 months.
What a carrier credit is, and is not
Apple’s summary of the carrier route is up to $1,200 in credits for an iPhone 14 or later in any condition, and any condition is the genuine advantage. A badly damaged phone that Apple would discount steeply can still qualify for a carrier’s top tier.
The size of the credit is not one number. Apple’s own footnotes split AT&T into $350, $930 or $1,200 depending on the trade-in and the plan tier, applied over 36 months, and put T-Mobile between $150 and $1,200 over 24 to 36 months depending on whether you are new, adding a line or already a customer.
Those tiers appear in Apple’s footnotes and not on the carriers’ own pages. Verizon’s iPhone 18 Pro page publishes a pre-order time and nothing else, AT&T’s deals page still leads with iPhone 17 Pro Max, and T-Mobile’s terms could not be verified. Two days before pre-orders, no US carrier has said what it is offering.
Selling it yourself, where nobody publishes anything
This is the route people assume pays most, and it is the only one with no published number to check. The one useful comparison available: a resale quote recorded for an iPhone 17 Pro in early September was about $790, against the $785 recorded as Apple’s credit for the same model. At the top of the range, the premium for doing it yourself can be a few dollars.
Against that you take on finding a buyer, marketplace fees, shipping, the risk of a dispute, and the timing problem. Money that arrives a fortnight after you have already paid for the new phone is not the same as a credit that reduces the checkout total. You also still have to back up, sign out of your Apple Account and turn off Find My before the phone leaves your hands.
Which route pays most, by situation
- A recent phone in good condition, bought from Apple: the instant credit lands close to the ceiling and costs you no work.
- A cracked or heavily worn phone: the carrier’s any-condition wording is where the gap is widest.
- You might switch carriers inside three years: take Apple’s credit, because an unfinished bill credit is a discount you never collect.
- You are paying cash and want the largest absolute figure: a private sale, with the effort priced in.
- A phone older than iPhone 13: Apple’s $175 floor is not yours, and recorded values fall to $35 for an iPhone 8 Plus.
What has not been confirmed
Apple has not published a per-model trade-in table, and the estimator is a questionnaire rather than a price list. No US carrier has published iPhone 18 Pro terms, so the tier figures come from Apple’s footnotes. Resale prices are published by nobody and move daily.
Trade-in credit is applied at checkout, so the decision has the same deadline as the phone. Pre-orders open at 5 a.m. PT on Saturday, September 12, with devices in stores on Friday, September 18. Our price breakdown and the Pro against Pro Max comparison cover what you are trading up to.
