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Common question · Value and prices

Is it worth selling your old phone?

Usually yes. A phone loses value every year it sits in a drawer, and an old phone still holding your data is a risk. Keep it only if you will really use it, as a backup or a child’s first phone. Otherwise sell it while it is worth something; if it is too old to sell, it is taken back for free.

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Answered by the SubSell team · Family-run · Québécois and Canadian shop · Montreal, since 2017 · Updated

What waiting costs

  1. Sell iPhone 17 Pro Max · 2025$1,950
  2. Sell iPhone 16 Pro Max · 2024$1,180
  3. Sell iPhone 15 Pro Max · 2023$850
  4. Sell iPhone 14 Pro Max · 2022$620
  5. Sell iPhone 13 Pro Max · 2021$490
  6. Sell iPhone 12 Pro Max · 2020$350
  7. Sell iPhone 11 Pro Max · 2019$290
  8. Sell iPhone XS Max · 2018$230
Prices checked on October 20, 2026 Our maximum cash price, model by model (sealed new for iPhone 17 and newer, like new for the others): every extra year costs money.

Each step down this list is roughly one more year. The same phone, kept one more year, resells at the price of the generation below it, or less.

Good reasons to sell now

  • Value drops every year, especially after new iPhones come out in September.
  • The battery ages, even while the phone sleeps.
  • Updates stop one day: the X stopped at iOS 16, the XS and XR at iOS 18.
  • A forgotten phone with your photos, messages and accounts is a risk, at home and for whoever finds it.
  • Resold, it is useful to someone else instead of ending up in the trash.

Good reasons to keep it

  • A real backup phone for trips, charged and up to date.
  • A child’s first phone, erased and set up for them.

If you sell, do it right

Back up, sign out of your accounts, erase the phone: the full checklist. At SubSell, every phone also goes through professional data-erasure software before any resale. Changing phones anyway? Toward one of our phones, the trade-in value is above our cash price.

Before you come in

Related questions

Is it better to sell or trade in an old phone?

Sell it for cash if you want the money; trade it toward another phone if you are buying one anyway. At SubSell the trade-in value is above our cash price, and the bonus only lowers the price of the phone you buy: it is never paid out in cash.

How much value does a phone lose per year?

It depends on the model; our prices show it: each older generation is worth less than the one after it.

Should I keep my old phone as a backup?

Only if you will use it. A backup phone you never turn on loses value every year and still holds your data unless it has been erased.

Straight answers

Other questions people ask us

  • What is my old phone worth?

    It depends on the model: an iPhone from the last five years in good shape is still worth money, older ones less, and some only recycling. At SubSell, a like-new iPhone 12 still gets up to $235 cash and an iPhone 11 up to $245; anything unsellable is taken back for free. Your exact price comes after a 5-minute check.

  • Where to sell a phone to get the most money?

    A private sale can bring the highest price, if it goes well. The most money with no risk comes from a buyback shop that pays cash on the spot. At SubSell in Montréal, we pay up to $1,950 cash for a sealed iPhone 17 Pro Max, after a free 5-minute check, and the price is firm before you say yes.

  • Which is the best place to sell old phones?

    For old phones, the best place is a shop that buys older and broken models and takes the rest back for free: ads for old phones mostly attract lowball offers. SubSell buys every iPhone from the iPhone X on, Samsung Galaxy phones and Google Pixels, pays cash on the spot, and recycles what cannot be resold, free of charge.

  • Who gives the most money for trade-in phones?

    Compare what the trade-in takes off the price of the phone you get, and in what form. Apple gives credit; carriers generally give bill or device credit tied to a plan. At SubSell, a trade-in value is above our cash price and comes off your next phone; if your old phone’s cash price is higher than that phone’s price, you get the difference in cash. The trade-in bonus is never paid out in cash.

  • Which is the most hacked phone?

    There is no official “most hacked phone” ranking. By volume, Android phones face far more malware, largely because of their numbers and apps installed from outside official stores; iPhones are targeted less often, and when they are, it is mostly by rare spyware aimed at specific people. The biggest risks are a phone that no longer gets updates, phishing, and an old phone sold without being erased.

All our answers

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Related topics

Sell my phone

Every model’s price, paid in cash on the spot.

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Trade-in calculator

Your phone toward another: pay only the difference.

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Phone recycling

Too old to resell? Taken back for free.

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A question?

Call or write: the shop answers within the hour, 9 AM to 9 PM, in French or English.

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Your price in 5 minutes, paid in cash on the spot.

757 Rue Beaubien East, Montréal • Mon-Sun 9 AM-9 PM • Walk-ins welcome

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