Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  A few weeks ago, I traded in my old iPhone XS from 2018 for $700 toward a new iPhone 13 Pro.  My old iPhone was in pretty good shape but the battery wasn’t holding a great charge.  I heard about these trade-in deals with AT&T and Verizon so I did some research and found out how they worked.  Now that I understand how these trade-in deals work, I thought I would write this post to explain the process.  If you have an old iPhone or other smartphone, check with your current wireless carrier to see if they have any similar upgrade offers.  Also, these deals change on a monthly basis, so check back often to see if new deals are live.

First things first, I have AT&T, so the majority of this post talks about AT&T’s trade-in program.  Laura has Verizon, so I can confirm that the Verizon upgrade and trade-in process is very similar, which I will cover at the end of this post.  Here are the newest iPhones available on the AT&T website and you will see the banner that says “Up to $700 w/ Trade”.  The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro are almost the same size as my old iPhone XS, so I wanted my new iPhone to be the same size.  The iPhone 13 Pro has 3 cameras, a larger battery, and faster processor vs the iPhone 13 so I decided to purchase the iPhone 13 Pro.

There are 5 colors to pick from and 4 different storage sizes.  I went with Graphite (gray color) and 128GB storage.  You can always buy more iCloud storage for a few bucks a month if you have lots of photos you want to store.  The price for that configuration is $999.99 or $27.78/month on a 36 month installment plan (0% interest).

If you have an old iPhone or other smartphone, you can trade in your old phone and save on your new phone.  With an eligible trade-in, your monthly installment plan can drop from $27.78/month down to $8.34/month.  Here is how that works.  You buy your new phone on a 36 month installment plan for $27.78/month.  After trading in your old phone, you will get $700 trade in credit, but that $700 trade in credit is paid to you over 36 months, or $19.44/month.  Your new phone costs $27.78/month but your trade in credit gives you $19.44/month, so the net cost is $8.34/month.  Hopefully that makes sense.

Here is more info on how the trade-in credits work.

Go through the process to see what your old phone is worth.  I selected Apple iPhone XS 64GB and clicked the Continue button.

My old iPhone XS was in good condition so I clicked the Yes button and it said I could get $700 trade-in value, even though the market value for my old iPhone XS was only $120.  Click the Trade in this Device button to apply the trade-in to your order.

As of May 13, there are a few different trade-in promos, depending on what phone you have and what phone you want to get.  For example, if I had a really old iPhone, I might have only qualified for a $350 trade-in value.  Alternatively, if I wanted a new Samsung or Google Pixel phone, I could get up to $800 for trading in an old phone.

Once the trade-in device is attached to your order, you will see the updated monthly installment plan price.

On the checkout page, it shows all the details of your new phone, old phone you will trade-in, and various sales tax and upgrade fees.  Don’t forget, use a credit card that earns bonus points for wireless phone service, like the Chase Ink Business Cash Credit Card or Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card.

I completed my order on May 4 and I can see my order details and trade-in details.

My order arrived 2 days later via FedEx and contained a trade-in shipping label.

Here are the details of my trade-in, including the tracking number and link.

I followed the instructions to turn off the Find My iPhone feature, sign out of iCloud, and do a factory reset.  I dropped off the package with my old phone on May 9 and the package has slowly made it’s way across the country to Georgia (where I believe the trade-in phones are processed).

Under the My Devices section, I can see my new iPhone 13 Pro and the installment payments remaining.

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Here are the newest iPhones available on the Verizon website and you will see the banner that says “Get up to $800 Off with Trade”.  Let’s go through the same process for an iPhone 13 Pro.

I selected the same Graphite 128GB iPhone 13 Pro and the price is the same as AT&T: $999.99 or $27.77/month on a 36 month installment plan (0% interest).  Scroll down to the Ways to Save section, click on Upgrade Existing Line, and click the Add button under the “Save up to $800…” offer.

With Verizon, I could get up to $800 for trading in my old iPhone XS.

After the trade-in offer is applied to the order, the updated monthly installment plan price is $5.55/month.  Since I don’t have a Verizon account, I couldn’t go any further, but the process is very similar.

The one gotcha I have seen with both of these offers is that you need to be on eligible plans.  Some grandfathered AT&T and Verizon plans may not give you the full $700 or $800 trade-in values.  Luckily, I am on an eligible AT&T unlimited plan, so I was able to get the full $700 trade-in value.  If you can only get $400 or $500 trade-in value, that is still probably much better than the current value of your old phone.  If you have any questions about the trade-in process for either AT&T or Verizon, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!