In September 2018, I bought a 128gb Pixel 2 off of eBay for $439. In November 2018, I bought a 128gb Pixel 3 off of Google’s Play Store for $949.34. That’s a difference of $510.34 and the Pixel 3 is just not $510.34 more phone than the Pixel 2. I bought it during a 1-day sale that included $900 in free Airbnb credits, so it made sense to me at the time but that was a 1-day sale and it really won’t be available again.
In a world where a new Samsung Galaxy s20 Ultra 5g is $1399.99 and an Apple iPhone 11 Pro is $1,149.00, I would argue that a $550 mint condition Google Pixel 4 off of Swappa or a $530 mint condition iPhone XS off of eBay would be a much better value. If you buy last year’s phone instead of this year’s phone, you can get even better value for money.
The natural rebuttal to my point is “I don’t have to buy my $1380 Galaxy Z-Flip in cash. I pay monthly payments on it.” but that means that you are still paying $1380 and you are going to continue doing so long past the point where you would rather have the next thing. I still owe $187.29 on my Pixel 3 and since then the Pixel 3a and the Pixel 4 have been released. By the time it’s paid off, the Pixel 4a will be out and the Pixel 5 may be available.
Take it from me. Go buy a used phone. It’s not worth buying new.
[ Cover photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash ]