Now might be a great time to buy an second-hand Android
Have you been able to avoid the temptation of screaming “TAKE MY MONEY” while throwing your Android phone at the feet of Tim Cook and the Apple horde? Then now might be a great time to pick up a new, slightly used Android device. Bloomberg reports that phone trade-in site Gazelle has experienced a rash of folks handing over their Android smartphones in exchange for cash that will presumably be used toward the purchase of a shiny new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus (the phone launches tomorrow).
A quick search of Craigslist and eBay seems to confirm that there are indeed plenty of newish Android devices going up for sale at prices we likely would not have seen before folks were overcome with the desperation to buy the new iPhone. These include devices like the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8, which are still some of the best Android handsets money can buy. Used trade-ins via services like Gazelle should trickle down to the secondary market in the coming weeks.
Swappa, a site that allows users to sell and buy used smartphones, has confirmed that they too have seen an uptick in folks selling their old phones in anticipation of Apple’s new releases, but in their case it is last year’s iPhone 5s that is dominating the resale market. At any rate, plenty of folks see the new, larger iPhone options as reason to upgrade.
And that’s great for Apple, but even better for Android fans looking for a great deal on a good-as-new smartphone (we’ve seen the Galaxy S5 listed in places for as low as $200, a price that was practically unheard of for a slightly used version of the phone just a few weeks ago). Let us know if you are seeing the same sort of deals on the second-hand market in your area.