The iPhone 17 Pro Max is being traded in more than any other phone, just four months after launch. But why?
Strong resale prices – not problems – have pushed Apple’s flagship to the top of trade-in charts
Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro Max has become the most traded-in smartphone just four months after it launched. With a stat like that, you’d probably assume something’s gone horribly wrong – battery drama, overheating complaints, or perhaps a camera backlash.
The reality? None of the above. In fact, there’s nothing wrong with the iPhone 17 Pro Max at all which, incidentally, is why it stands proud on our best smartphones list.
All is revealed in new figures reported by MacRumors, based on trade-in data from SellCell, which suggests the surge is actually being driven by one simple factor – the iPhone 17 Pro Max is holding its value unusually well.
Over roughly 145 days, the iPhone 17 Pro Max has lost around 25.4 per cent of its launch value when looking at average resale prices for mint-condition devices. For context, over the same period, the iPhone 16 Pro Max dropped by around 32.5 per cent.
In other words, the 17 Pro Max is worth around $95 more in trade-in value over the same time frame, compared to its predecessor, which means it’s likely being traded in not because it’s collapsing in value, but because it hasn’t.
According to SellCell, the iPhone 17 Pro Max now accounts for 11.5 per cent of all devices appearing in the top-20 trade-in rankings, and that share has more than doubled in around 12 weeks.
This is particularly interesting because trade-in charts are normally dominated by older devices with huge install bases. It usually takes time for a model to work its way into resale volume simply because more people own it. For a current flagship to climb straight to the top within months is unusual.
It’s also telling that around 86 per cent of traded-in units were classified as mint or good condition, which means that these aren’t battered handsets at the end of a contract cycle. Many appear to have been flipped relatively soon after purchase.
With mint-condition iPhone 17 Pro Max devices averaging around $967.50 on the secondhand market, users are effectively able to recover a significant portion of their original outlay once the new gadget honeymoon phase wears off.
Given that the best mid-range smartphones have reached a point where they can offer near-flagship features for less (and the fact that money may be tighter for people in general), the new stats seem to make sense.
Of course, if you’d rather keep your trusty handset and plan to upgrade to the iPhone 18, then it should still hold its value well later on this year, when the time is right.
Esat Dedezade
Contributor 
