Google Suddenly Raises Trade-In Prices In Rare New Offer

After Samsung unexpectedly raised its trade-in prices, and Apple’s iPhone 16 saw its price slashed, Google has joined in with its own major new promotion.

This deal raises trade-in prices when buying the Pixel 9 series to levels I haven’t seen from Google before. For those who regularly read my deal stories, you will know that Google typically has some of the lowest valuations (compared to its main rivals) for your used phone. Even for its own Pixel devices, Samsung offers more.

But that appears to have changed with a new Google Store U.K. promotion that tops out at £1,045 trade-in.

The trade-in prices range from a maximum of £675 ($920.50) for the base Pixel 9, £820 ($1118.24) for the Pixel 9 Pro / XL and £1,045 ($1425.07) for the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Google says this includes a bonus of between £200 ($272.58) and £400 ($545.16) on top of the regular trade-in valuations, with the promotion ending on July 8th.

ForbesSamsung Makes New Free Offer To Millions Of Galaxy Phones And TabletsBy Janhoi McGregor

Obviously, those top figures are reserved for the latest handsets, which I wouldn’t recommend trading in. Your Pixel 8, Galaxy S24 or iPhone 15 will continue to be excellent phones for several more years (and in some cases, better than their successors). But there are some solid deals here. Check out the pricing below when buying the Pixel 9 Pro.

• Google Pixel 7 Pro – £454 ($618.75)
• Google Pixel 6 Pro – £415 ($565.60)
• Google Pixel 5 – £377 ($513.81)
• Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max – £657 ($895.42)
• Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max – £447 ($609.21)
• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra – £517 ($704.62)
• Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus – £373 ($508.36)

Let’s address the obvious takeaway from these prices: no one will ever give you more money than that for your defunct Google Pixel 5. It is out of the software support window and the last Google device released before the modern rebrand. It’s museum fodder. So receiving nearly £400 ($545.16) for the 2020 handset is a deal that shouldn’t be sniffed at.

Google Comfortably Beats The Competition With New Pixel 9 Trade In Deal

These new Google valuations outstrip the pricing on the secondary market and rival manufacturer trade-in prices. For example, Samsung will pay £449 ($611.94) for the Galaxy S23 Ultra and it doesn’t even accept the Galaxy S10 Plus for trade-in.

Google also clears Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Max price by almost £200 (£470 / $640.56 versus £657). The gap is even bigger with the iPhone 11 Pro Max, which Apple will pay £165 for ($224.88) compared to Google’s £447.

I have covered almost every Google deal in the last two years and I haven’t seen the company raise its trade-in prices by this much before. Perhaps it heard the grumbles about how poorly it has historically valued your old phone, or it saw Samsung’s similarly high price trade-in deal. Whatever the reason, this is good news for customers.

ForbesGoogle Battery Warning Made Worse By Pixel Trade-In ProblemsBy Janhoi McGregor

I looked through the terms and conditions and they appear to be reasonable and normal. The only thing that gives me pause is that the company handling Google’s trade-in scheme for this deal, PCS Wireless, will obviously inspect the device and only send it back if results show it is worth less than 75% of the estimated value. If the investigation shows the device is worth 75%, or more (but less than the original quote), then you will have to accept that figure, with no argument.

The inspection criteria, again, seems reasonable; making sure the phone powers on, data is wiped, ensuring the phone isn’t counterfeit and more fairly standard expectations. There may be more to it and perhaps PCS will nitpick. I’d be interested to hear from those who have successfully, or unsuccessfully, received the full whack from Google for their old phone. Let me know.

If you’re a particularly enterprising deal hunter, it is worth buying a cheap second-hand Pixel phone (these have the best price-to-trade-in ratio) and sending it to Google to save some money. Or, raid your drawer for a (working) used phone and see what Google will pay for it because the list of eligible phones is surprisingly long.