iPhone 5 Release Date Rumors Lead to Massive Increase in Old iPhone Trade In's

By Elton Jones, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, September 22, 2011

Owners of the iPhone 4 are trading in their models due to Wednesday's announcement of the iPhone 5's dated debut.

The expected initial announcement of Apple's iPhone 5 is set for the company's October 4th media event. Gadget trade-in site Gazelle.com reported that iPhone 4 trades have seen a significant increase, as much as 85 percent Wednesday morning.

Gazelle.com is reportedly set to buy back over 2,500 iPhones from customers this week, up from the 100 iPhones a day it purchased before the iPhone 4 officially launched.

This trend is said to not be much of a surprise to several tech companies, since iPhone 3GS owners are looking to purchase an upgrade. The demand for the iPhone has played a huge part in the iPhone 4 trade-in activity as well. After last year’s iPhone 4 introduction, Gazelle had already purchased 3,000 old iPhones within the same week. By the end of the day, that number had an increase of 10,000.

Gazelle’s chief gadget officer Anthony Scarsella, in an interview with Cnet, had this to say: “It’s really unprecedented behavior. Usually gadget owners, especially with phones, they wait [to sell back] until the new one is announced."

Trade-in values vary for the iPhone 4 model for tech companies like Gazelle, Nextworth, eBay Instant Sale and EcoSquid.

Currently, the iPhone 4 16GB model on AT&T is going for $235 in good condition and $300 in perfect condition. As for the iPhone 3GS 16GB model, those that are in good condition go for $138 and those in perfect condition have a $175 value.

For those who still have their iPhone 4's and don't believe in the impending release of the iPhone 5, an unlikely source may have given truth to the rumor.

At yesterday’s Discovery Invest Leadership Summit, current member of the Apple Board Al Gore was overheard saying the "new iPhone would be out next month."

Despite all of this, the iPhone 4 is still the top-selling smartphone on AT&T and Verizon as of earlier this month.