Google’s newly announced Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro come with another round of trade-in offers. Smartphone makers use trade-ins to bring in new users, and Google is going hard to court iPhone and Apple Watch owners. Somewhat embarrassingly so.
Device trade-ins have become a battleground for smartphone companies and carriers. Often, these companies overpay for used phones to keep you using their products and services.Carriers are more incentivized to do thisbecause they can offset the trade-in cost with the money they make from your phone plan, but Apple, Samsung, and Google offer trade-in deals, too.
This time, it’s blatantly obvious who Google is targeting: Apple users.
Google Is Paying a Premium for iPhones
If you’re an existing Pixel user, you may be interested in upgrading to the latest model. Google will give you $325 for a 128GB Pixel 7 or $420 for a 128GB Pixel 7 Pro. That’s a little less than half the price of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.
But what if you’re an iPhone user looking to make the switch? Google offers $350 for a five-year-old iPhone XR with only 64GB of storage. That’s more than the barely-year-oldPixel 7. Skip forward to last year’siPhone 14 Pro, and Google will give you a whopping $620 for the 128GB model—$200 morethan the Pixel 7 Pro.
Essentially, if you have a five years old or newer iPhone, you’re able to get more for it than practically any Pixel phone. In the chart below, I’ve compared the trade-in offers for 128GB non-Pro, non-Max models for the last five years. The last column of the chart shows the “premium” benefit you get from trading in an iPhone over a Pixel. While the variation between models isn’t perfectly consistent by year, you’re getting a much better value trading in an iPhone regardless of which model it is.
2022
$550 (iPhone 14)
$225
2021
$500 (iPhone 13)
$175
2020
$480 (iPhone 12)
$180
2019
$440 (iPhone 11)
$190
2018
$350 (iPhone XR)
$200 (Pixel 3)
$150
Those offers are from the Google Store, butGoogle Fi Wirelessdoesn’t have much better. A 128GB iPhone 14 will score you $330, while a 128GB Pixel 7 is only $150. Woof. The one saving grace is you can get$400 if you activate a Pixel 8 on an existing Google Fi line.
Unsurprisingly, the situation is the same for the Pixel Watch 2, but not slightly as lopsided. Google offers $175 for an Apple Watch Ultra and $150 for last year’s Pixel Watch. It’ll only give you a measly $68 for a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 or Watch 5 Pro.
Google’s Goal Is Clear
It’s no mystery why Google is rolling out the red carpet for iPhone owners. At first glance, you might write it off as just a matter of absolute value. iPhones generally have a higher resale value than most other phones. But that doesn’t explain why Google, specifically, would spend cold, hard cash to collect piles of iPhones. The bigger reason is most likelywhoGoogle wants to buy Pixel phones.
Google doesn’t necessarily need to cater to existing Pixel customers. If you love your current Pixel, there’s a good chance you’ll buy another one. Instead, Google’s overvaluation of iPhone trade-ins is about converting non-Pixel users to Pixel users. Even the trade-ins for Samsung phones are far and away better than the offers for Pixel trade-ins.
For example, Google will give $550 for a128GB Galaxy S23—the same price as the iPhone 14. Google is splashing the cash to make converting to Pixel extra appealing. Surely, somebody at Google investigated how much it would cost to entice an iPhone user away from the Apple ecosystem. Once that idea was run through a gauntlet of meetings and accountants, we’re sure, it ended up as the iPhone trade-in premium we see in the chart above.
Even though I get it, as a Pixel owner, it’s disheartening to see Google so willing to pay such a premium for Apple and Samsung phones released in the same year as my Pixel 7. I would be much more likely to upgrade this year if I could recoup over half the cost of the Pixel 8 like Apple and Samsung owners can. I guess Pixel ownersneed to take matters into their own handsif they want to score a Pixel at a better price.
