Prices & value
How fast phones lose value in India
A phone loses roughly a quarter of its value in the first six months, then slows. Knowing the curve tells you when holding on stops being free.
The shape of the curve
Depreciation is front-loaded. The largest single drop happens the moment a phone stops being new — the same handset, unboxed and activated, is worth noticeably less than the sealed one beside it.
| Age | Flagship | Mid-range | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 months | ~85% of launch price | ~80% | ~75% |
| 6 months | ~75% | ~68% | ~60% |
| 12 months | ~65% | ~55% | ~45% |
| 24 months | ~50% | ~38% | ~28% |
| 36 months | ~35% | ~25% | ~18% |
Indicative retention bands for phones in good condition with the bill available.
What makes a phone fall faster
- A short update window. Once a phone stops receiving security patches, second-hand demand collapses.
- Aggressive new-phone discounting. If the current model is being sold at 30% off during a sale, nobody pays close to that for a used one.
- A crowded successor cycle. Brands that launch three near-identical phones a year depreciate faster than brands that launch one.
- Base storage. The 128GB variant of a phone ages worse than the 256GB, because the second owner is buying for years, not months.
The cost of the drawer
Most households in India have at least one phone that stopped being the daily driver but never got sold. It is worth putting a number on that.
A ₹30,000 phone at the 12-month mark is worth roughly ₹16,000. Left unused for another year it is worth around ₹11,000. That is ₹5,000 spent on storage — more than the phone would have cost to insure, and considerably more than most people gain by holding out for a better offer.
A spare phone is not an asset. It is a slowly emptying wallet with a screen.
Using the curve
Two practical conclusions. If you upgrade annually, sell at the eleven-month mark, while the bill still puts you in the top age band. If you upgrade every three or four years, stop worrying about resale and buy for longevity instead — you will realise very little either way.
And whichever you are, sell the phone you have stopped using now rather than at some tidier future moment. Check what yours is worth today and compare it with what you think you will accept in six months.
Depreciation you can control, and depreciation you cannot
Roughly two thirds of the curve is set by things you have no say in — launch cycles, discounting, how long the manufacturer supports the phone. The last third is yours.
| Factor | In your control? | Worth acting on |
|---|---|---|
| Successor launch timing | No | Sell ahead of it |
| Manufacturer support window | No | Check it before buying |
| Physical condition | Yes | A case and a protector genuinely pay for themselves |
| Battery wear | Partly | Avoid overnight charging at 100% where the phone allows |
| Original parts | Yes | Authorised repairs only, on display and battery |
| Box, bill, charger | Yes | Keep them together from day one |
| How long you keep it | Yes | The single biggest lever you have |
The last row is the one people underestimate. A phone sold at two years rather than three is typically worth 40–50% more, and nothing about how carefully you treated it comes close to that.
Frequently asked questions
- How much value does a phone lose in the first year?
- Roughly 35% for a flagship, 45% for a mid-range phone and over half for a budget handset, assuming good condition and an available bill.
- Do phones depreciate faster in India than elsewhere?
- The curve is similar, but heavy discounting on new phones during festive sales compresses used prices in the same period, which can make the drop feel sharper here.
- When does depreciation slow down?
- After about three years, when the phone is priced as a used device rather than a recent one. From there it flattens gradually towards the value of its recoverable parts.
- Is it worth keeping an old phone as a spare?
- Rarely, financially. A spare handset typically loses 2–4% of its remaining value every month it sits unused, which is more than most people would pay to replace it in an emergency.
- What can I actually do to slow my phone's depreciation?
- Keep it in a case, keep the box and bill together, use authorised repairs for display and battery, and above all sell it a year earlier than you were planning to.