Apple Launches ‘Trade Up With Installments’ iPhone Payment Plan As Sales Fall

There’s definitely cause for concern in Apple land; the company’s most profitable product, the iPhone, is slowing down. In Apple’s most recent earnings report, iPhone sales barely budged year-over-year, rising from 74.5 million units in fiscal Q1 2015 to 74.8 million units during fiscal Q1 2016. Granted, selling nearly 75 million smartphones in a quarter is nothing to scoff at, but investors were understandably worried that Apple was losing its mojo.

Now, Gartner is claiming that iPhone sales are actually falling rather than merely stalling. Gartner’s figures indicate that Apple’s share of the global smartphone market fell from 20.4 percent in Q4 2014 to 17.7 percent in Q4 2015. Sales reportedly fell from 74.8 million in Q4 2014 to 71.5 million in Q4 2015. During the same period, Samsung actually gained market share and increased its unit sales by over 10 million. Overall smartphone sales were up nearly 10 percent year-over-year.

“Low-cost smartphones in emerging markets, and strong demand for premium smartphones, continued to be the driving factors,” said Gartner research director Anshul Gupta. “An aggressive pricing from local and Chinese brands in the midrange and entry-level segments of emerging markets led to consumers upgrading more quickly to affordable smartphones.”

In what can be seen as a remarkably well-timed answer to Gartner’s latest report, Apple has announced a new “Trade Up With Installments” program. Trade Up with Installments will allow you to trade in your existing smartphone as a way to lower your monthly payments for a new iPhone. Apple also won’t just accept iPhones; it will accept Android devices as well in a bid to capture users that may be ready to give iOS a try.

Apple has estimated trade-in values for the iPhone 4s, iPhone 5s and iPhone 6 at $100, 200 and $300 respectively. Android users can also expect to receive between $100 and $300 in credit depending on the condition and type of phone they trade-in.

The value of your old phone will immediately reduce the price you pay during the 24 monthly installment period. For example, someone that trades in an iPhone 6 for a new iPhone 6s can expect to pay $14.54 per month. Upgrading from an iPhone 4 to an iPhone 5s will result in monthly payments of $14.58 per month.

If you prefer, you can trade-in an old phone and not bother with purchasing a new iPhone. You’ll, however, receive in-store credit in return instead of cold hard cash.