Skip to main content

Get a new iPhone for as little as $15/mo with Apple’s new Trade Up program

Apple iPhone 6s.
Jessica Lee Star/Digital Trends
Buying a new iPhone can be daunting when you consider the upfront cost of a new model, but Apple is hoping its new program will make it more affordable.

Trade Up With Installments debuted today, and it’s a way to trade-in your old iPhone, Android, or Windows Phone toward the cost of a shiny new iPhone. Apple will apply the value of your old device to the price of the new iPhone, and let you pay the difference in 24 monthly payments, interest free.

Monthly payments range from $15 to $35 per month depending on what phone your trading in and what model you’re trading up to. To give you and idea of what to expect, if you trade-in an iPhone 4 for the iPhone 6S Plus with 128GB, your monthly cost will be $35, However, if you were to trade-in an iPhone 5 for an iPhone 6 with 16GB, it would come to only $15 per month.

The chart below shows what value you will get for your current iPhone and how much your monthly payment will be for a new iPhone after trade-in. Android and Windows Phones aren’t listed, but typical values range from $100 to $300.

Your trade-in Max trade-in value You choose Your monthly payment
iPhone 4, 4S $100 iPhone 5S (16GB) $14.58/month
iPhone 4, 4S $100 iPhone 5S (32GB) $16.62/month
iPhone 4, 4S $100 iPhone 6 (16GB) $18.70/month
iPhone 4, 4S $100 iPhone 6 (64GB) $22.87/month
iPhone 4, 4S $100 iPhone 6 Plus (16GB) $22.87/month
iPhone 4, 4S $100 iPhone 6 Plus (64GB) $27.04/month
iPhone 4, 4S $100 iPhone 6S (16GB) $22.87/month
iPhone 4, 4S $100 iPhone 6S (64GB) $27.04/month
iPhone 4, 4S $100 iPhone 6S (128GB) $31.20/month
iPhone 4, 4S $100 iPhone 6S Plus (16GB) $27.04/month
iPhone 4, 4S $100 iPhone 6S Plus (64GB) $31.20/month
iPhone 4, 4S $100 iPhone 6S Plus (128GB) $35.37/month
iPhone 5, 5C, 5S $200 iPhone 6 (16GB) $14.54/month
iPhone 5, 5C, 5S $200 iPhone 6 (64GB) $18.70/month
iPhone 5, 5C, 5S $200 iPhone 6 Plus (16GB) $18.70/month
iPhone 5, 5C, 5S $200 iPhone 6 Plus (64GB) $22.87/month
iPhone 5, 5C, 5S $200 iPhone 6S (16GB) $18.70/month
iPhone 5, 5C, 5S $200 iPhone 6S (64GB) $22.87/month
iPhone 5, 5C, 5S $200 iPhone 6S (128GB) $27.04/month
iPhone 5, 5C, 5S $200 iPhone 6S Plus (16GB) $22.87/month
iPhone 5, 5C, 5S $200 iPhone 6S Plus (64GB) $27.04/month
iPhone 5, 5C, 5S $200 iPhone 6S Plus (128GB) $31.20/month
iPhone 6 $300 iPhone 6 Plus (16GB) $14.54/month
iPhone 6 $300 iPhone 6 Plus (64GB) $18.70/month
iPhone 6 $300 iPhone 6S (16GB) $14.54/month
iPhone 6 $300 iPhone 6S (64GB) $18.70/month
iPhone 6 $300 iPhone 6S (128GB) $22.87/month
iPhone 6 $300 iPhone 6S Plus (16GB) $18.70/month
iPhone 6 $300 iPhone 6S Plus (64GB) $22.87/month
iPhone 6 $300 iPhone 6S Plus (128GB) $27.04/month
iPhone 6 Plus $350 iPhone 6S (16GB) $12.45/month
iPhone 6 Plus $350 iPhone 6S (64GB) $16.62/month
iPhone 6 Plus $350 iPhone 6S (128GB) $20.79/month
iPhone 6 Plus $350 iPhone 6S Plus (16GB) $16.62/month
iPhone 6 Plus $350 iPhone 6S Plus (64GB) $20.79/month
iPhone 6 Plus $350 iPhone 6S Plus (128GB) $24.95/month

This new program shouldn’t be confused with Apple’s current trade-in program or its iPhone Upgrade program. The current trade-in program allows you to trade in an old iPhone (even damaged) for up to $350 toward a new iPhone. In this case, you would pay the difference of the new phone and the old phone up front. The iPhone Upgrade program allows you to buy a new iPhone and pay for it in 24 monthly installments with AppleCare+ included, but you trade in your phone each year to make sure you have the latest model. Monthly payments continue indefinitely.

While Trade Up With Installments doesn’t include AppleCare+ insurance, customers can add it on for an additional upfront payment of $100 to $130.

It seems confusing, but Trade Up With Installments is geared towards those consumers that have older iPhones, and don’t want to upgrade constantly. According to Fiksu, a data tracking service, 42 percent of active iPhone owners are using the iPhone 5S or older. The iPhone 5S is from 2013.

It’s great that iPhones are built to last, but Apple is obviously trying to entice users into getting a newer device. The company’s most recent financial results were spectacular, but it warned that iPhone sales were finally slowing.

Trade Up With Installments is only available at Apple stores in the U.S.

Editors' Recommendations

Robert Nazarian
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Robert Nazarian became a technology enthusiast when his parents bought him a Radio Shack TRS-80 Color. Now his biggest…
iOS 18 may give Siri the upgrade we’ve been waiting for
Hey Siri

Apple isn’t immune from the AI craze sweeping the rest of the industry. Following the likes of Google with Gemini Nano, Apple is set to roll out AI upgrades to the iPhone with iOS 18. Code-named “Project Graymatter,” the iOS 18 update will bring a variety of AI-powered enhancements to the iPhone and Siri in particular.

According to AppleInsider, the features are being tested in advance of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), and one of the biggest is called “Graymatter Catch Up.” The feature is tied to Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, which will now allow users to request and receive an AI overview of the most recent notifications.

Read more
Become an iPhone video master with this powerful new app
Screenshots from the Kino app.

Avid iPhone photographers will already know the excellent Halide camera app and how it can help transform the stills you take. But they will also know it does not support video, a point the company itself has been well aware of too. That’s why it has launched Kino, a video app for the iPhone that aims to bring similar Halide-style benefits to video instead of stills.

Kino is described as a video app for beginners and experts alike, but to get the most from it, you’ll likely need to be familiar with the iPhone’s video recording modes. For example, one of the main features that makes Kino stand out is Instant Grade, which uses the Log video recording mode, which was introduced on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Read more
Apple offers peek at how it stress tests the iPhone
Apple testing the water resistance of an iPhone.

Apple tests the water resistance of an iPhone. MKBHD

Popular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee visited an Apple lab recently to see up close how the company tests the durability of new iPhone handsets.

Read more