Cut the price of new smartphone by turning old phones into cash
With a swag of new phones coming out, it could be time to upgrade. The trick to getting a new phone on the cheap is to turn your old one into cash.
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SMARTPHONE season is upon us and it’s time to get out with the old and in with the new.
With a swag of new smartphones set to be released next week at Mobile World Congress and Apple expected to unveil its new smaller iPhone at an event next month, it might be time to consider ways to dispose of your old phone that are good for the environment and your pocket.
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In the past year, Australians recycled 74 tonnes of mobile phone components through MobileMuster, which is the equivalent to taking 170 cars off the road or planting 3600 trees.
Rose Read of MobileMuster says Australians are slowly clearing old phones out of cupboards, with the unused handsets estimates dropping, for the first time, from 23.5 million to 22.5 million.
“Some people have five, six, seven or eight phones in storage. Around 40 per cent of people have two or more phones in storage,” Ms Read says.
Many people kept an old phone as a backup in case they damage or lose their current device, she says.
Another common reason is uncertainly about how to get data off phones.
Recycled mobile phones can be used in many ways. The plastic can be turned into anything from new phones to fence posts, battery components are turned back into batteries, and the steel can be used in almost anything.
Ms Read says the oldest phones are best recycled, but others may make owners money.
“They need to reuse or pass them on or sell them on. There are plenty of opportunities to sell phones online these days, from the cash-for-phones type websites, or sell them on eBay.
Older phones should be recycled through organisations such as MobileMuster so you can be assured your data will be destroyed.
“If your phone is only two or three years old it will still be of value,” Ms Read says.
If you could want to trade in an old phone for an Apple iPhone, for example, probably the easiest way is to walk into an Apple Store and tell them you want to trade up, or register at apple.com/au/iphone/trade-in.
Apple says you could get up to $500 for your old phone but you can expect less than that if your phone is a generation or two old.
The Apple trade-in offer, managed by a third-party called Brightstar, extends beyond Apple phones. Unsurprisingly, the Cupertino tech giant is eager to help people switch from Google Android phones to iOS.
You can get better prices by shopping around, however. Apple offers a $200 gift voucher for an iPhone 5S 32GB in good condition, compared to $232 cash from Boomerang Buyback (boomerangbuyback.com.au), $210 from Mobile Monster (mobilemonster.com.au) and $200 from Mazuma Mobile (mazumamobile.com.au).
If you value profit over convenience, a comparison by Finder.com.au found you are likely to get a better price for your old phone through websites like Gumtree, though the process involves negotiating a price.
Originally published as Cut the price of new smartphone by turning old phones into cash
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