I wanted to determine whether it was better to stay on Magenta Max and buy the phone outright through Apple or move to Go5G Plus to get the better trade values so I did some basic calculations.

Currently, we pay $112/mo for two lines on Magenta Max with an Insider discount. Both phones are paid off, so this is only the cost of the plan. Only one person needs a new phone, so let's assume we are talking about only a single line here. Assuming we move to Go5G Plus, that will cost an extra $10 per month, or $240 over the period of 24 months. With an iPhone 13 trade-in, an iPhone 16 Pro 256GB will cost $11.50-$12 per month. But there's also a $35 connection fee and sales tax.

TOTAL FOR T-MOBILE OPTION: $645 over the period of two years (24mo). This includes tax, connection fee, monthly phone payment, and the increased cost of moving to Go5G Plus.

If you trade through the Apple Store, they give $250 for an iPhone 13. The total cost with tax for the 16 Pro is $1191.

TOTAL FOR APPLE STORE TRADE OPTION: $941. Just the cost of the new phone, tax, minus the trade value.

So as you can see, it saves you about $300 by going through T-Mobile, but let's say you keep the iPhone 16 Pro a 3rd year, then you save only about $200. Now what if you buy the iPhone directly from Apple and rather than doing the trade, you sell it on Facebook or Swappa? I see the iPhone 13 listed for about $350 on Swappa.

Edit: I'm a dang idiot! The apple store advertises $200 on the trade in page, but on the buy-an-iphone page, when you step through it, it does actually specify $185 as the trade-in value. So maybe I did get the full value after all? Weird.

Sorry if I'm being captain obvious and stating something everyone already knew, but I am posting this in case anyone searches this question in the future.

I traded in an iPhone 13 that had a couple scratches on the frame and a good amount of scratching around the edges of the front screen. Some of those scratches were deep enough to catch a fingernail. Apple advertises a max trade-in value of $200 for iPhone 13s and ultimately their program assessed mine as being worth $185. The EIP contract for my 17 pro max showed up as $1199 with a down payment of $185. (and thus, $42.25 in monthly payments).

I then received a promotion enrollment message in my account activity stating I'd get $25.63 in monthly credits, which puts me at $16.62, exactly what the apple store quoted. (A total of $398.88). That puts me at $800 in 'promotional credit', as promised.

Since I'm in california, the tax was $122.90. That is actually as expected. I have seen many people say that if you trade in at apple, you're only charged tax on the difference, but in CA you will get charged tax on the full amount. (just like when you buy a car).

So yeah! I hope that info helps someone! :)

Hi All,

Quick question — are there any trade-in deals coming up this Thanksgiving for existing T-Mobile customers? I’m on one of the Magenta plans, and I’ve got an iPhone 13 I could trade in.

Just trying to figure out if it makes more sense to stay with T-Mobile or switch to Verizon.

Thanks!

hello, i wanted to get some input in my situation, i have an iPhone 13 that i've been using for around 2-3 years and since yesterday the battery has been swelling up and turning off randomly, i've minimized use and done all possible precautions. I told my mom about it and she says she's taking it for a trade in.

my question is, does t mobile (or any carrier in general) accept phones with swollen batteries? or should i first replace the battery and then trade it in?

I was also looking into replacing it in a 3rd party since my warranty expired and it's generally cheaper, but i don't know yet.

thanks for reading :)

I’m on a grandfather plan and was looking to upgrade my old iPhone for the 17. Was told by by T-Mobile I can trade any iPhone damaged or not for $830 without changing my plan. It’s not advertised they call it in house targeted upgrade. Anyone have experience with this? Sounds fishy

Here’s the Apple-side breakdown for those on Go5G Plus/Next and Experience More/Beyond plans:

$1100 Trade-In Tier (Go5G Next & Experience Beyond)
• All Pro/Pro Max models starting with iPhone 13 Pro and newer

$800 Trade-In Tier (Go5G Plus & Experience More)
• iPhone 12 Pro and newer (doesn’t include the base iPhone 12)
• Example eligible devices: iPhone 13, 13 pro, 14, etc

You can do this at Apple Stores, Apple.com, or the Apple Store app, and the trade-in credits are applied when you choose T-Mobile carrier financing at checkout.

Note that this is the Apple-side T-Mobile deal; T-Mobile’s direct promo will be shared separately.

Hello all,

I have the need to upgrade four older iPhones. My carrier, Verizon, will let us upgrade for free but with a 3 year contract. Additionally, I don't believe they will allow trade-ins for statement credit. T mobile seems to have a very aggressive deal that will only requires a 2 year contract and will provide free iphones and statement credit for trade ins. I tried to purchase 4 new plans to transfer my phones from Verizon, adding my trade-in info for each line. Unfortunately they wouldn't process the order and asked me to go to a store, which I abhor the idea. Anyway, in the end, if I transfer 4 phones to 4 experience beyond plans, t mobile will give me 4 free iPhone 17 Pros and accept 4 trade-ins for a monthly statement credit of $125 (total credit /24 mos). That's a great deal if it's correct. Can someone who knows this deal let me know if I'm right about this, please. I don't want to go to the store unless I am sure this is the deal.

Update: I've had some issues with T-Mobile regarding my account. I wanted to view my account to see the plan and phones and check if the account was correct before porting the numbers to the 6 phones I received yesterday. To make a long story short, only 4 lines are eligible for the deal, but the other two lines can take a trade in. I've got 2 14's and the max version gets me an even trade for a new 17pro. I hope the normal 14 will do the same. I have a call schedule tomorrow to finalize this stuff. I don't get any statement credits other than my phone deposit amount which will be credited over 24 months. I also eventually get 2200 from Costco. It can take ten weeks they said.

Update #2: I just found out that the free phone deal is available for all the phones, not just 4. In my situation, 5 used the deal, and 1 used a trade-in worth $1100 because we have 1 phone that has an $800 balance with Verizon. When I get the final bill from Verizon, I have to submit it to T-Mobile and they will pay for it.