Apple recently announced (Tuesday, May 10, 2022) that they were removing the nostalgic iPod from their range after 20 years.
This has caused a lot of noise about whether this was the right move from Team Apple, as iPod fans reflect fondly about their iPods.
There have also been reports that iPods have been sold on Ebay and other marketplaces for hundreds if not thousands of dollars
but experts do not expect this to last for too much longer. So are iPods actually worth hanging onto as ‘collectors items’ or is it best to cash out now?
Let’s dig into the data
iPod Depereciation
Main Findings
iPods on average have depreciated by 89% since launch. This is, however, incredibly slow depreciation considering some of the iPods are 20 years old.Depreciation ranges from 98% (2003 range) to 71% for newer 2019 iPods.
iPod Touch 7th Gen 256GB has the best resale value. Users can still get $100 for this iPod in good condition.
Newer iPods still retain a fairly good resale value, with the iPod Touch 7th Gen 128GB still worth $70 (good condition),iPod Touch 7th Gen 256GB still worth $100 (good condition) and the iPod Touch 6th Gen 128GB worth $60 (good condition).
Average Resale value has remained fairly static over the last 6 months. There has been a small, marginal recovery in resale value
since Apple made its announcement to discontinue the iPod on 10th May of circa 3%. This is based on the tracked prices of
a selection of iPods showing an average depreciation rate of 86.3% on 1st May 22 to 83.4% on 16th May 22.
Average value you can get for your old iPod is $28, but this ranges from $5 – $100 for newer iPods
Sadly, early iPod Classics are now only worth $5 – $32. The iPod Classic 7th Gen 160GB is still worth a respectable $61 in good condition
Summary
It is clear to see that older iPods have depreciated heavily, circa 90% plus. In Apple’s defence this is to be expected for a 20 year old product.
The fact that they are still holding any value is impressive and falls in line with the slow depreciation rate of Apple products vs other manufacturer
phone brands. For newer iPods there is a good gain to be had in selling an old iPod with values of $40 – $100 still on the table.
The iPod Touch 7th Gen 256GB is still worth a very respectable $100 with a depreciation rate of 74.9%. The 32GB version is worth $57 with
the lowest depreciation rate of all iPods at 71.4% (in good condition)
Average Depreciation Across Ranges
The charts above take a sample of iPod models and tracks their pricing over the past 6 months. The data illustrates that resale value across these iPodshas remained fairly static over the last 6 months. There is some positive news in that there has been a slight uptick in value recovery in the days since Applehas announced that the iPod will be discontinued. Notably, the iPod Nano 7th Gen 16GB has seen value recovery of 13.4% since Apple’s announcement andthe iPod Touch 5th Gen 16GB a value increase of 3.1%. The news has clearly caused some buyers to increase the value of some of the iPod lines.Overall the value appreciation across some key lines is just under 3% (2.9%) Good news but nothing major to line your pockets. There may be somefurther improvement over time.
To Sell or Not To Sell is the Question?
Pricing research indicates that over a long period of time iPods are likely to have less and less value, so if you need an extra $50 in your back pocket now is the time tosell your iPod. The good news is that over the next few weeks there may be a small increase in the resale values of some iPods following Apple’s announcement,so there is not a blind rush to make any decision to keep or sell. As there isn’t a huge amount of money ‘for the taking’ across the board, it may be a personal decision tohold onto your iPod and continue to use it as a second device, gift to your child as a music player or just keep hold of it for nostaligic reasons. SellCell predicts that depreciation,as with all Apple products, will continue to be quite slow and there may be a small increase in the resale value over the next few weeks, but not a lot!