It is shockingly easy for misinformation to spread online, especially on social media, where algorithms can latch onto an idea and persist in spreading it. The latest viral nonsense spreading around is that Apple will somehow offer over $1,000 if you trade in an iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Needless to say, that has raised some suspicions online, but not in the way you might expect. Some people seem convinced that Apple is desperate to get the phones back for a reason, and that it might have secretly been the best iPhone of all time. Which would naturally affect the sales of the new iPhone 17 series.
Except that isn’t what’s going on at all. People have apparently become confused because they’re not reviewing the actual terms of Apple’s trade-in program. Or simply not listening to what was said during the iPhone 17 launch event.
How much does Apple offer for trade-ins?
Apple marketing chief Greg “Joz” Joswiak promised that customers could get “up to $1,100 off when you trade in an iPhone 13 Pro or newer” (emphasis mine). He said similar things in previous years for the iPhone 12 Pro and the iPhone 11 Pro.
This doesn’t guarantee that you can get $1,100 for handing over your old iPhone 13. All it means is that some devices could get you $1,100 of credit when you buy an iPhone 17. In reality, the iPhone 13 Pro will only get you up to $250 of trade-in credit, while the 13 Pro Max will come with up to $320 credit. Which is more than I’d normally expect for a four-year-old phone.
Apple itself doesn’t offer anything close to $1,100 for a trade-in either. In fact, trading in an iPhone 16 Pro Max, which is barely a year old, won’t earn you more than $700 in trade-in credit. To maximize your trade-in potential, you’ll need to take advantage of carrier offers.
Carrier offers can be much more lucrative
Phone carriers do offer a lot more for your older devices, and the iPhone 13 Pro is no exception. In fact, AT&T is offering up to $1,100 in trade-in credit for anyone who trades in an iPhone 13 Pro, regardless of its actual condition. That means you will get an iPhone 17 Pro for free, or an iPhone 17 Pro Max for less than $3 a month.
Verizon, T-Mobile and other carriers offer similar deals on older devices, and you can check out our iPhone 17 deals page for a bunch of ways to get the new iPhones for next to nothing. All thanks to the power of trade-ins. But there isn’t some grand conspiracy to regain iPhone 13 Pros here, and there has been no shortage of similar deals in the past.
The downside, of course, is that these offers are usually only available if you sign up for specific service plans, which lock you in with that carrier for an extended period, versus the freedom of buying an unlocked device from the Apple Store.
I’ve never been entirely sure how carriers make money from offering such generous trade-in deals. Presumably, they make up the loss by pushing those customers onto its most expensive plans.
Should you trade in your old iPhones for an upgrade?
TikTok may have a point about keeping hold of the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, even if their reasoning is flawed. It’s far from the best iPhone ever made, and I’m not even sure it would crack the top 10. Though that doesn’t matter as long as you’re happy with it.
If a new phone is serving you perfectly well, and you’re not convinced that the iPhone 17 is the right phone for you, then there’s zero harm in keeping hold of it for a little while longer. It’s a lot less wasteful that way, and you’ll be making the most of whatever money you spent on the phone back when it was brand new.
Apple is still supporting the iPhone 13 series with new software updates, including the newly released iOS 26, and that means you have a few more years of features and security patches to keep the phone safe and secure. All you’re really missing out on is Apple Intelligence, which you may be happy living without.
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