Now is a great time to buy an iPhone 6S
The new iPhone 7 is out.聽Just look at those sleek curves. Surely, they鈥檙e sleeker than the curves聽on the 6S! You must buy it.
But wait! Before you blow a month鈥檚 rent on the iPhone 7 鈥� which will cost between $649 and聽$969 when it鈥檚 available on聽Sept. 16聽鈥� take stock of what you actually need from your device. Are you a power user, whose cell phone is better described as a productivity device? Or is your phone just a texting mechanism聽you accidentally take pictures on?
If you鈥檙e trying to get the most value out of your phone, it鈥檚 good to be honest about what you really need. Late-model phones demand premium prices, and often you鈥檙e just paying for the privilege of holding new, but only slightly different bevelled edges.
Instead, take a look one generation back, at the iPhone 6S. Apple just knocked $100 off its retail price, as it usually does when a newer model is released.
You could find even more value on the secondary market. Prices for used iPhones typically drop 15% to 20% after a new iPhone release, according to聽. Another reseller, uSell.com,聽聽in used iPhone prices two months after the iPhone 5S was released.
And what about that 5S? Three years later it鈥檚 still an entirely serviceable phone. A cursory inspection of current 32GB iPhone 5S eBay prices indicates that with the predicted 20% drop in price,聽you鈥檒l be able to pick one up for less than $250. Apple recently discontinued the 5S in favor of the similar-sized iPhone SE (which has similar聽guts to the iPhone 6S), but you鈥檝e still got a good聽year or two before the 5S is entirely outmoded.
If you鈥檙e buying on the secondary market, you鈥檒l want to make sure the iPhone you purchase is either unlocked so it can work on any network, or is locked to your carrier鈥檚 particular network. If your phone is locked to a different network,聽before you can use it.
Stephen Layton is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email:slayton@nerdwallet.com.
The article聽聽originally appeared on聽.
