iPhone Air Resale Value Crashes 50% While Pro Models Hold Strong

Apple’s latest iPhone 17 lineup is proving to be a success—mostly. However, one model in particular isn’t enjoying the same luck as the others in the series. Previous reports already hinted at low demand for the company’s ultra-slim phone. Now, according to an analysis of the second-hand market, the iPhone Air has recorded the steepest early resale value drop of any recent iPhone model.

The latest figures support the trend of weak consumer demand for the Air model, in sharp contrast to the strong performance of its Pro counterparts.

iPhone Air is losing value faster than any recent iPhone

SellCell’s comprehensive analysis considered over 40 U.S. trade-in companies. The figures reflect that several configurations of the iPhone Air have lost almost 50% of their original price within just ten weeks of launch. This trend suggests a challenging debut for Apple‘s latest design experiment.

The analysis tracked real-time trade-in prices. The results showed a notable divergence in value retention across the new lineup. The standard iPhone 17 series saw an average depreciation of 34.6% after ten weeks. This performance is notably stronger than last year’s iPhone 16 range. It even approaches the value retention champion of recent years, the iPhone 15 series.

The iPhone Air, however, tells a different story. Its average depreciation across all storage configurations sits at a high of 44.3%. The decline is most acute for the highest-capacity model; the 1TB iPhone Air lost 47.7% of its value. The figure makes it the weakest-performing iPhone configuration in the entire dataset. This places the iPhone Air among poorly received past models, such as the iPhone 14 Plus and certain iPhone 13 mini configurations.

Meanwhile, the Pro segment maintains its financial resilience. The iPhone 17 Pro Max model showed the strongest value retention, with the 256GB version losing just 26.1%. All Pro and Pro Max configurations remained below 40% depreciation, confirming sustained strong second-hand demand.

Implication for buyers

For consumers, these figures carry direct financial consequences. Early adopters of the iPhone Air looking to trade in their device are getting significantly less of their initial investment compared to owners of any other new iPhone model. This depreciation rate is not just a measure of popularity. It hints at long-term market uncertainty regarding the device’s value.

Another worrying sign for the iPhone Air is its depreciation curve. Typically, iPhone depreciation stabilizes around the ten-week mark. While the iPhone 17 models followed this pattern, the iPhone Air’s decline continued through the tenth week.

Overall, the data shows that shoppers and buyers in the second-hand market are clearly prioritizing the performance and features of the Pro models. It seems that, as is happening with the Galaxy S25 Edge, an ultra-thin design isn’t enough as a main selling point.