Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Apple will take your Android phone now and give you a shiny new iPhone instead

By

Best Phablets Apple iPhone 6 Plus
Image used with permission by copyright holder
A lot of people left the iPhone for phablets when Apple was still making small iPhones, but now, Apple is willing to welcome the switchers back into the flock with open arms. Its brand-new trade-in program lets Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry users hand in their old phones for bright, shiny iPhones.

Perviously, only iPhones were accepted as trade ins at Apple Stores, but now any Apple Store in the U.S., UK, Canada, and a few other European countries will accept phones that run the competitions’ software. The change is listed on individual store pages, and is listed on the UK Apple Store’s iPhone Reuse and Recycling program page. Trade ins for non iPhones aren’t advertised very loudly, but hidden under a category that’s simply called, “Smartphone,” as if Apple doesn’t really want to advertise that its letting Android users into its program.

Recommended Videos

Right now, the online trade-in page only gives the option to hand over phones from Sony, Samsung, Nokia, LG, HTC, and BlackBerry, but if you go into stores with another Android device, you may also get credit. No one’s tested that theory yet, though. The other thing to note about Apple’s new policy is that you may not get very much money for your old Android. A Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in mint condition will only get you about $140. Still, it’s better than nothing.

Related

Apple’s decision to accept non-iPhone trade ins isn’t too surprising, given the recent report that it would open up to Android devices at the very least. It also makes sense, assuming that CEO Tim Cook’s claims that Android users are leaving Google for Apple in droves are actually true.

If you’re interested in finding out how much your phone will fetch, you can either head over to an Apple Store, or check out the UK website for an estimate. The U.S. Apple Store page doesn’t say anything about non-iPhone trade ins at the moment.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Malarie Gokey
Malarie Gokey
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Mobile Editor, Malarie runs the Mobile and Wearables sections, which cover smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and…
3 reasons why I’ll actually use Anker’s new iPhone power bank
A person holding the Anker MagGo Power Bank.

Power banks are a necessary evil, and even if you don’t consider yourself a “power user” who's likely to drain a phone’s battery in less than a day, there will be times when one comes in handy. And when I am forced to carry one, I want it to be as helpful and versatile as possible.

I’ve been trying Anker’s MagGo Power Bank 10K -- meaning it has a 10,000mAh cell inside it -- and there are three reasons why I'm OK with it taking up valuable space in my bag.
It has a screen on it

Read more
Here’s how Apple could change your iPhone forever
An iPhone 15 Pro Max laying on its back, showing its home screen.

Over the past few months, Apple has released a steady stream of research papers detailing its work with generative AI. So far, Apple has been tight-lipped about what exactly is cooking in its research labs, while rumors circulate that Apple is in talks with Google to license its Gemini AI for iPhones.

But there have been a couple of teasers of what we can expect. In February, an Apple research paper detailed an open-source model called MLLM-Guided Image Editing (MGIE) that is capable of media editing using natural language instructions from users. Now, another research paper on Ferret UI has sent the AI community into a frenzy.

Read more
There’s a big problem with the iPhone’s Photos app
The Apple iPhone 15 Plus's gallery app.

While my primary device these days continues to be my iPhone 15 Pro, I’ve dabbled with plenty of Android phones since I’ve been here at Digital Trends. One of my favorite brands of phone has been the Google Pixel because of its strong suite of photo-editing tools and good camera hardware.

Google first added the Magic Eraser capability with the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, which is a tool I love using. Then, with the Pixel 8 series, Google added the Magic Editor, which uses generative AI to make edits that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. There are also tools like Photo Unblur, which is great for old photographs and enhancing images that were captured with low-quality sensors.

Read more