Buying an iPhone Ultra could be an expensive experiment

Source Domain: 9to5mac.com

If you are planning to buy an iPhone Ultra to find out how useful it is in practice, with the idea of selling it if it doesn’t live up to expectations, a resale site warns that it could prove a very expensive experiment.

Data shows that foldables lose more resale value in their first year than any other smartphone category, whether measured in percentage or absolute terms …

SellCell found that foldable phones lose 64.6% of their value within a year, making them the worst-performing smartphone category for value retention. This compares to 55% for traditional smartphones. Factor in the higher purchase cost, and that amounts to losing almost $1,000 of value if you buy new and sell a year later.

The site extrapolates from its data to suggest that an iPhone Ultra priced at $2,000 could lose as much as $1,292 in its first year.

In reality, the depreciation would likely be lower as iPhones hold their value much better than many competing models. For example, the base model iPhone 16 retained 51.4% of its value a year later, while the 256GB model of the iPhone 16 Pro Max retained 56.4%.

But even if the iPhone Ultra fell somewhere within this range, that would still put the total loss at around $1,000 over the course of a year.

Of course, Apple does have a 14-day return policy, so as long as you made up your mind within that time, the experiment could be free.