Up until now, if you wanted to trade in a device for an Apple product at one of the company’s stores, you could only trade in Apple products. However, 9to5 Mac reports this could change in the near future.
The new trade-in program would allow customers to walk into any Apple Store and trade in non-Apple smartphones, notably including Android devices, in exchange for gift cards. These gift cards could then be used towards the purchase of any iPhone, with trade-in values determined by employees. As with other trade-in programs, the cosmetic and functional conditions of the handset will be taken into account.
The outlet reports Apple will launch the new trade-in program in the next couple of weeks, with retail store employee training beginning this week. Employees will be trained on how to transfer contacts from customers’ handsets to iPhones, though customers will have to move other data to their new iPhones on their own.
If the report proves true, and Apple starts taking trade ins from Android users, it could increase the number of people who switch over to the iPhone. Apple boasted earlier this year that many Android users are turning to the latest iPhones. The company even posted a guide on how to switch from Google’s OS to iOS.
Apple originally launched its Reuse and Recycle in-store trade-in program back in 2013 with the purpose of helping people upgrade from older iPhone models to the iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, and iPhone 5S. Apple expanded the program to include iPads last summer.