Samsung Galaxy S4 creates HTC and BlackBerry trade-in rush

News Paul Briden 11:24, 20 Mar 2013

Samsung's Galaxy S4 has created a frenzy of old phone trade-ins

The launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S4 flagship has apparently created a rush of UK phone buyers trading in their HTC and BlackBerry hardware in order to get their hands on the latest model out of Korea.

According to SellMyMobile, trade-ins of HTC models on the site have shot up by 82 per cent in the two days since Samsung announced the Galaxy S4, while BlackBerry trade-ins have gone up 56 per cent. Plenty of established Samsung users are also apparently ditching their existing models to get a piece of the Galaxy S4 action with an increase of 21 per cent for the same period.

Lines are very starkly drawn between Samsung and Apple camps, however, as iPhone owners, for the most part, resolutely cling to their devices with only a five per cent increase in iPhone trade-ins.

The trade-in value of the Samsung Galaxy S3 has dropped from £260 to £250 since the launch, so it remains a popular phone for many consumers. Meanwhile, the iPhone 5 has maintained a high value of £311 for the 16GB variant.

The original iPhone 4 remains the most-traded in handset as of March 2013 and fetches a value of £140, with the iPhone 4S in second place at £232. However, it’s likely in these cases consumers are trading in an older iPhone model for the newer iPhone 5.

Of BlackBerry models traded-in, the most traded is the BlackBerry Curve 8520 sitting in third place behind Apple’s older models and selling for a mere £50, while Samsung’s Galaxy S3 slots into fourth place ahead of the BlackBerry Torch 9800 in fifth.

Curiously enough, despite the reportedly massive increase in HTC trade-ins not a single HTC model sits on the top 10 trade-in list.

Colin White, managing director for the trade-in site, commented on the findings:

‘The rise in trade-ins of HTC and BlackBerry devices highlights the increasing rivalry between handset giants as consumers cash-in on the old in exchange for the new. But it’s interesting to see that despite the hype, we haven’t seen the same surge in trade-ins that we do with most Apple device launches,’ he said.

HTC

by pbriden via Featured Articles