Do Foldable Phones Lose Resale Value Faster?
Foldable phones lose their value at a much faster rate than standard flagship phones do, and this applies to every big brand on the market. The big resale sites show the same pattern - foldables can drop by 70% or more from what you originally paid within just the first year of ownership. Standard flagship phones from those same manufacturers manage to hold onto a lot more of their value over that same time period.
It’s a big deal because many owners sell or trade in their phone to help them cover the cost of their next one. A few factors explain why foldables lose value way faster than standard smartphones do. The technology in these devices evolves pretty fast and means last year’s model feels outdated in just a few months.
The market for used foldables is also pretty limited, and when the demand is low, prices drop accordingly. Concerns about hinge durability and expensive screen replacements don’t inspire confidence for anyone who wants to buy a used one either. Every big manufacturer continues to pump out new foldable models regularly, and with each new release, the previous generation drops even more down the value chain for anyone shopping in the pre-owned market.
Let’s talk about what this means for you - whether you’re buying or selling!
Which Phones Hold Their Value Better
Foldable phones don’t hold their value nearly as much as traditional smartphones do and the rate at which they depreciate is actually quite dramatic based on the numbers. A Galaxy Z Fold model, say, will lose around 60% of its original price within just the first year of ownership. Other foldable models can depreciate even more than that and a lot of it depends on what the secondary market conditions look like at the time you want to sell yours.
Standard flagship phones are a different situation. An iPhone Pro will drop between 40% and 50% of its value over that same year. Samsung Galaxy S models follow a pretty similar pattern. The actual dollar amounts at stake show that the difference between these two categories piles up fast.
The Galaxy Z Fold 5, say, launched at $1,800. After you own it for a full year, you’d be lucky to get $700 or $800 back on the resale market - it’s a loss of over $1,000 in just 12 months. Compare that to the iPhone 15 Pro that cost $1,000 at launch. A year later, you could still sell it for around $500 to $600. The percentages alone make the depreciation look pretty similar between the two phones. The difference is in the dollar amount - and you’re losing way less money with the iPhone.
Other foldable phone makers face the exact same resale value challenges across the board. With foldables, the brand on the box doesn’t matter all that much - they all lose value in pretty similar ways when you take them out of the package and use them.
Standard phones are going to hold their value much better and this applies across every brand and model category. Android flagships will lose their value faster than iPhones (that part hasn’t changed). But even those devices hold onto their resale prices at much higher levels than any foldable on the market. The value difference between foldables and traditional phones has been remarkably stable for the past few years. The used phone market tells a pretty obvious story - and buyers over and over gravitate toward traditional form styles after they compare prices between the two types.
How Fast Do Foldable Phones Get Old
Foldable phones evolve at a very fast pace, and each new generation has a way of making last year’s model feel almost outdated. The hinge mechanisms are now smoother and more reliable, and the display glass is far more resistant to damage than it was just a generation ago. Manufacturers also trim the thickness better now and it gives each new device a sleeker, more refined look.
Foldable technology is still a fairly new category and manufacturers are working through plenty of the problems that buyers care about most. Each time a new model comes out and fixes one or two big flaws from the last generation, it has a way of making the previous version feel more like an early prototype than a finished product.
The Fold 4 compared to the Fold 6 shows this pattern. The newer model weighs less and it’s thinner too. The crease that runs down the middle of the screen is much less obvious on the Fold 6. And the hinge now closes flat - the two halves line up perfectly without any difference between them. Upgrades like this make the older phone look chunky and unfinished by comparison.
Traditional smartphones don’t fall behind nearly as fast. The iPhone 14 and iPhone 16 have different cameras and processors inside, of course. Hold them side by side though and they look and feel almost identical. Apple has been working with the same basic design for years now and just refines it with small improvements generation after generation. They never had to reinvent something as complex as a hinge mechanism or work out how to make a screen that can fold in half without cracking.
A new foldable phone seems like a smart buy because you get all of the latest features and improvements from day one. It backfires about a year or two later when you want to sell it and upgrade to something else. Anyone who’s shopping for your phone can pull up the newest model and compare the two in just a few seconds. Once they see what the latest generation brings, they’re not going to pay anywhere near what you’ll have to get for it.
Who Are the Used Foldable Buyers
The used market for foldable phones in 2026 is still quite limited. Foldables only make up less than 5% of all phone sales, and it means the number of buyers actually shopping for a used one is pretty small. When the new phone market for these devices is already this niche, the used market ends up being even smaller.
Most buyers shopping for a used foldable phone fall into one of two categories. On the one hand, you have tech enthusiasts who want to experience the latest form factor without paying full retail on what still seems like an experimental device. On the other hand, you have deal seekers who see that depreciated price tag and can’t resist. What’s interesting is that the second group hardly ever sticks around for very long once they actually live with a used foldable for a few weeks.
The hinge is what scares most buyers away from buying a used foldable phone. Inheriting a folding mechanism that’s been opened and closed thousands of times by a stranger makes it hard to feel confident about what you’re ending up with. The wear on the hinge parts stays hidden until something fails. Foldable screens also use different materials than standard phones and it makes durability questions harder to answer. Was the previous owner gentle with it, or were they pressing down hard on that fragile inner display all of the time? It’s almost impossible to know.
Once you add all this up, something interesting happens in the foldable market. Most buyers who want a foldable phone are going to buy it brand new. For these buyers, it’s a big deal that they’re the first ones to open and close that hinge - they want to take care of that screen themselves from day one. Compare that to your more budget-conscious shoppers who usually browse the used phone market - well, foldables don’t even show up on their list. For them, a traditional phone with a proven track record and fewer reliability concerns is going to make a lot more sense.
For sellers, that small audience means you’ll have to put in a lot more work to find a buyer who’s willing to take the chance. You can still sell a used foldable if you have to. But be prepared to wait longer and accept lower prices than you would with a traditional flagship phone.
Hidden Damage and Repair Costs
The screen is as big of a concern if you’re shopping for a used model. All foldable phones have a crease that runs right down the middle where it bends. As the phone gets used over time, that crease tends to get deeper and leaves anyone who is buying a used one in a tough position - you can’t tell if this crease is about to fail, if the previous owner took care of their phone, or if they carelessly flipped it open and snapped it shut hundreds of times a day. It’s impossible to tell just by looking at it.
Repair costs are another big consideration for buyers. Crack the screen on a normal phone and you’re probably looking at around $200 for the repair. Crack the screen on a foldable and the same damage can run you $500 or more - sometimes well over $1,000, and it depends on the model you have. The big price gap comes from the screen technology. Foldable screens need flexible materials and those materials are a lot more expensive to manufacture and replace than the standard glass on traditional phones.
These expensive repair bills weigh heavily on anyone who wants to buy a used foldable. Eventually it turns into a question of whether you’re just gambling on how much life the phone actually has left. If something breaks just a month after you buy it, the repair bill could cost more compared to what the phone is even worth. All this uncertainty is why the resale prices stay so low on these devices.
What makes this even harder is that buyers can’t actually check the parts that matter most. Anyone can see surface scratches on the body, and it’s not hard to give it a quick once-over for obvious damage. But you can’t tell how much wear the hinge itself has been through, or tell when the screen is going to start coming apart at the fold. There’s no way to know any of that from a visual inspection.
All these factors combined (the expensive repairs and the wear and tear that’s impossible to see) make buyers pretty nervous about purchasing a used foldable. If a buyer wants to buy your phone, they’re going to ask for a large discount to make up for the gamble that they’re taking. And as the phone ages and racks up more fold cycles, that discount is going to need to be even bigger to get anyone to buy it.
Why Competition Hurts Your Phone Value
All this constant innovation does have one big drawback though - it hurts the resale values. Every time a manufacturer announces a new hinge design, a display that’s a bit brighter or a battery that lasts a few hours longer, the older models start to feel a bit outdated pretty quickly. A phone that seemed like the latest and greatest just 6 months ago can start to look a little behind the times once a rival company releases their version with a few extra features and improvements.
Early smartphones went through this same cycle. Phone manufacturers released new models every few months, and each one came with a slightly better camera or a faster processor than the one before it. Last year’s flagship would drop in value almost overnight because buyers had already moved on to whatever just got announced. Foldables are in that same phase right now, and the pattern is repeating itself all over again.
More competition in the market gives buyers a lot more options to choose from. These extra options mean that they can be selective about the features they want, and they’re in a much better position to wait around for the right price to come along.
All this winds up pushing the resale values down, and it happens pretty fast. Sellers who want to move what they have in stock need to lower their prices because buyers can find dozens of other comparable options pretty easily. What used to be a market that was dominated by one big manufacturer has become a pretty crowded field where every brand is fighting for the same pool of buyers.
Trade Your Old Phone for Cash Today
After everything we’ve covered, foldable phones do lose their value faster than traditional smartphones in 2026. Tech moves very fast, and what was brand new last year feels outdated soon enough. The market for used foldables is pretty limited too because most buyers still aren’t comfortable with the idea of buying one secondhand. Those folding screens are still a big concern, and the worry about durability hasn’t gone away. Foldables also start at extremely high prices, so when you go to resell yours, the drop in value is going to be a lot more dramatic compared to a normal phone. New brands are also entering the market and competing for buyers, and they push used prices down even more. With all these problems combined, foldables just can’t hold their value as well as traditional phones do.
If you care about resale value and want to get decent money back when it’s time to sell or trade in your phone, foldables probably aren’t the right choice at this point. The resale market just hasn’t caught up, and it could take another year or two before prices stabilize and the technology gets a bit more refined. Maybe you love the idea of a phone that folds and you can’t wait to get your hands on one - in that case, go for it! Just know what you’re signing up for ahead of time. It’s more like paying extra for the experience and to get access to the latest tech - not a way to make a smart financial choice. Either choice works fine as long as you go in with your eyes open about the trade-offs.
If you have an old foldable sitting in a drawer somewhere, or maybe a traditional phone that’s about ready for retirement, ecoATM can help. We can turn it into cash. We have over 6,000 kiosks spread across the country, and the whole process is pretty simple - you bring in your phone, we check it out right there and you leave with cash the same day. Or if you’d prefer, we can send you a payout instead. In either case, you can put those funds toward your next phone. Our site will show you where to find a location nearby and give you an estimate of what your old device is worth. And you do your wallet a favor as we keep another device out of a landfill at the same time.
