Apple has increased the amount of credit it gives customers who trade in their old iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, and certain Android phones. Some devices are now worth over $100 more in trade-in credit than they were before The Verge. The Mac Studio, a high-end desktop computer, saw the single biggest increase — up by $260.

Most Apple devices got smaller increases, in the $5-to-$20 range. A few went up by more than $100. The update was reported on August 6, 2026, and follows an earlier round of increases in May 2026, which raised values for some newer iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches by $5 to $35 PCMag. That May update also narrowed the range of trade-in values for Android phones from $30–$370 to $30–$360 MacRumors.

On the Android side, Apple started accepting trade-in credit for a few new Android phone models while also lowering values for some existing ones. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra dropped from $230 to $200, and the Google Pixel 8 Pro was reduced from $170 Mashable. The Apple Watch Series 9, by contrast, went up from $295 to $305 in the May update Tom's Guide.

The higher trade-in credits come after Apple raised prices across its product lineup earlier in 2026, with increases ranging from $30 to $4,200 The Verge. Apple also launched a program called "Upgrade" in the United States in July 2026. It works like a lease: instead of paying the full price of a device up front, you pay a monthly fee Apple Newsroom. Trading in an old device can lower those monthly payments, though Apple's advertised monthly amounts may not include the trade-in value.

This is the third time Apple has adjusted its trade-in values in roughly three months. That is unusually frequent. In past years, Apple typically updated trade-in values every few months or when new products launched. Apple's September 2025 announcements advertised $200 to $700 in credit for trading in an iPhone 13 or newer, with up to $1,100 available toward new products Apple Newsroom. A year earlier, in September 2024, the range was $180 to $650 for an iPhone 12 or higher, with up to $1,000 toward an iPhone 16 Pro Apple Newsroom.

The pattern is clear: the trade-in amounts Apple advertises have been going up at the same time that its retail prices have been going up. Apple has not said directly whether the trade-in increases are designed to make higher prices feel less painful, or to support the new Upgrade program's monthly payment math.

What is visible from how the program works is that the Upgrade program and trade-in values are connected. When you trade in a device, Apple applies that credit to reduce the amount you are financing, which lowers your monthly payment — without Apple actually cutting the retail price of the product. The program's terms note that advertised monthly amounts may not reflect trade-in value, so the credit works like a discount that gets applied at checkout rather than in the advertising. For Apple, this keeps the official prices high while still giving sales staff room to offer a better deal.

The Mac Studio's $260 increase is notable because it is much larger than the $5-to-$20 adjustments most other products received. The Studio is a specialized, high-end desktop used by professionals, and its higher trade-in value likely reflects the cost of its internal parts and the relatively small number of people upgrading from one generation to the next.

For anyone thinking about upgrading soon, how much this helps depends on which device you are trading in and which one you are buying. The headline numbers overstate the benefit for most iPhone and iPad owners, who will see only small improvements. The larger gains are at the high end of the Mac lineup and for newly added Android devices.

The broader context here is that Apple is tying trade-in credit, monthly leasing, and retail pricing closer together. All three now move at the same time, and the August adjustments suggest Apple is willing to change trade-in values almost monthly if needed. Whether that pace continues is worth watching as the Upgrade program gets established.