iPhone vs Android in 2025: Which Holds Its Value Longer?
Resale value is a huge part of the total cost of ownership. We ran the numbers on iPhone 14 and Galaxy S23 pricing over 18 months — the gap is bigger than you'd think.
'How much will this phone be worth in two years?' is a better framing than 'how much does it cost today?' — and yet almost nobody shopping for a new phone does this math. We pulled 18 months of our own refurbished pricing data to find out which platforms actually hold their value.
The short version: iPhones depreciate slower than Galaxy flagships, and the gap widens between year one and year three.
Year-one depreciation
iPhone 14 Pro: approximately 28% value loss from launch retail.
Galaxy S23 Ultra: approximately 42% value loss from launch retail.
Both phones are comparable flagships. The gap in year-one depreciation is real and consistent with patterns we've tracked going back to 2019.
Year-three depreciation
iPhone 11 Pro (launched 2019): still holding roughly 35% of launch retail in Excellent condition on our shelves.
Galaxy S20 Ultra (launched 2020): holding roughly 18% of launch retail in Excellent condition.
The gap doubles. By year three, an iPhone owner who resells recovers nearly twice as much as a Galaxy owner, in cash terms.
Why the gap exists
Three factors drive it. First, iOS software support is explicit and long (iPhone 14 will get updates through roughly 2029). Second, the iPhone secondhand market is global and liquid — demand never really softens. Third, Apple's model count is small, which keeps refurbished inventory from fragmenting.
Samsung has closed the software gap (the S24 gets seven years of updates) but the secondhand liquidity advantage remains with Apple for now.
The total cost of ownership view
Imagine two buyers in 2023: one spends 4,500 AED on an iPhone 14 Pro, the other spends 4,800 AED on a Galaxy S23 Ultra. Two years later, the iPhone resells for roughly 2,700 AED, the Galaxy for roughly 1,900 AED.
True two-year cost: iPhone 1,800 AED, Galaxy 2,900 AED. The Galaxy flagship is actually more expensive to own per year, despite costing less per year of updates.
The refurbished twist
Everything above changes if you buy refurbished. The big year-one depreciation hit has already been absorbed by the previous owner, and you enter the curve at its flatter section.
A refurbished Galaxy S23 Ultra at 35% off retail — which is roughly what we sell it for — ends up with better total-cost-of-ownership math than a new iPhone, even accounting for faster depreciation.
The takeaway: buy new if you want the longest support window and best resale. Buy refurbished if you want the best cash-out-of-pocket outcome, regardless of platform.
