Important information for people trading in iPhones in South Africa

South Africans should not assume they will get the best price for their old iPhones by trading them in at the iStore.

A MyBroadband comparison shows that WeFix is more likely to offer a better trade-in price for iPhones that are in an excellent condition.

We also found that iPhone users should avoid using the Samsung South Africa online trade-in facility, as it offered much lower trade-in values.

A MyBroadband reader recently raised questions about iStore trade-ins after they were offered R300 for a fully functional iPhone 11 64GB and iPhone XR 64GB after an in-store inspection.

The iPhone 11 had no damage except light scratches, while the iPhone XR had a cracked screen. However, the offers were entirely out of line with market prices in both cases.

To the nervously laughing iStore employee’s credit, they recommended that the reader go to another trade-in outlet, as they would likely be offered a better price.

They ended up giving the iPhone 11 to a family member to advertise to his friends on social media. The phone was eventually sold for around R6,000.

While the iPhone 11 and iPhone XR are six and seven years old, respectively, we also found many online listings for secondhand models going for well above that price.

iStore Pre-owned itself was selling used iPhone 11 64GB models for between R6,599 and R7,499, while its secondhand iPhone XR 64GB devices were priced from R5,799 to R6,499.

When using the iStore’s online trade-in calculator, we were offered between R426 and R4,200 for the iPhone 11, depending on the device’s condition.

The former was if the device had both a cracked display and a cracked body but could still turn on.

The lowest value we could get was R98, which applied to an iPhone 11 64GB that could not turn on and had a cracked screen and a cracked body.

iStore trade-in values vs WeFix and Samsung

Due to its name, branding, and store styling, South Africans often mistakenly believe that the iStore is owned or run by Apple. From that perspective, it would seem logical that it had the best trade-in deals.

However, iStore is a third-party retailer like any other iPhone seller in South Africa. Despite its parent, Core Group, being South Africa’s dominant Apple distributor, it does not get any preferential treatment.

In recent years, several other retailers have even undercut iStore prices on new iPhone models at launch.

MyBroadband compared iStore’s trade-in values with those of Samsung South Africa and WeFix across 20 iPhones.

When trading in devices in the best possible condition, WeFix offered the best trade-in values on 12 of the models assessed, while iStore had the best price on eight models.

The Samsung store had the worst trade-in values on all iPhones except the iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB. It often offered less than half the price that either iStore or WeFix did for the same model.

That said, Samsung’s R1,918 offer for the iPhone 11 64GB was still much better than what iStore had quoted.

The table below compares the maximum trade-in values for various iPhone models at the iStore and WeFix.