It's official! Apple iPhones are the best smartphone investment

(Image credit: Apple)

Smartphones are probably some of the most expensive devices that we purchase regularly – especially the case if you upgrade every one to two years. However, if you want to get your hands on the best camera phone tech, but you're also a financially savvy consumer, then it's likely that you prefer to sell or trade-in your old phone to get your new one.

If this is the case, you might be interested to learn that a new report has declared that Apple is the best possible smartphone investment. This is because iPhones are apparently much better at retaining their value than a smartphone from any other brand.

• Read more: Best iPhone for photography

A recent report from BlankMyCell confirms that cameras phones from Apple are much better at retaining their value when compared to equivalent Android phones, offering intriguing figures on how much the difference is between iOS and Android devices.

iPhone resale value compared to Android devices — (Image credit: BlankMyCell)

In the chart above, we can see that iPhone devices that cost more than $700 are shown to lose less than 70% of their original value. However, Android devices of a similar value lose more than 80% when it comes to their initial buyback value.

Interestingly, is the amount that iPhones depreciate over the course of a year is less than half that of an equivalent Android device. Over the first year, iPhone's generally depreciate by about 16.7% whereas an Android device depreciates by 33.62% in the first year. This is compounded by the fact that flagship Android devices are similar in price to flagship iOS camera phones.

Based on this information, it seems that iOS devices offer better value for money when it comes time to upgrade devices.

If you plan on upgrading your camera phone regularly, it may be a better idea to invest in an iPhone rather an Android phone. Based on this report, camera phones such the iPhone 12 Pro will likely retain their initial value far better than an Android equivalent device will.

Usman is a commercial and architectural photographer based in West Yorkshire, who has been working professionally for over seven years. He has also spent over four years as a writer for the biggest photography sites in the world, including Staff Writer for Digital Camera World, senior staff writer for FStoppers, and tech writer for Petapixel.

With a particular interest in technology developments, high-resolution imaging and the high-end cameras, Usman has been on the cutting edge of camera news as well as writing features about medium format systems and global shutters, and has reviewed some of the latest Leica cameras as well as a tripod that’s even taller than Andre the Giant!

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