LG smartphones are dead, and so is their resale value

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LG bowed out of the smartphone market last month, with an announcement that it was shuttering its mobile division. Owners will still get warranty support for the usual period, but the news has triggered a mass sell-off on all LG handsets, with owners trying to get the most back from their now-defunct devices.

The thing is, nobody wants to buy a smartphone from LG, which is probably the reason the mobile division tanked. A new report from SellCell dove into exactly how much buyback companies were offering, and the results are sobering. On the highest drop, some LG handsets are losing over 90% of their original price.

That huge depreciation hit was on 2017’s LG V30 64GB, which has lost 92.5% of the value that consumers had to pay new. Sure, it’s almost four years old now, and Android handsets don’t keep their value as iPhones do, but it still stings. At that price, it’s not even worth trying to sell it off, turn it into a smart home hub, or give it to your toddler to play educational games on.

Last year’s LG V60 ThinQ 128GB lost 69% of its MSRP, which used to be $899. That’s an even bigger bitter pill to swallow, since it only came out a year ago, as it was announced in Feb of 2020. I have to feel sorry for anyone who bought LG’s flagships to be different because now their wallets are going to hurt again.

The wacky, twistable LG Wing only came out in Sept 2020, and if you thought it was going to keep any of its $999 price tag, well, you’d be wrong. A “like new” LG Wing is only worth $285 to the tech buying sites, a huge drop of 71.5%.

The resale values for LG smartphones are bad in a vacuum, but if you look at resale prices for other smartphone brands, it gets even more depressing. Even a faulty iPhone 12 Pro Max is worth $600 or so to the resellers, probably because it’s worth their time to refurb and get it into working condition, as “like new” iPhone 12 Pro Max models are worth $933, close to the MSRP of $1,099.

The takeaway here is if you want to ensure your smartphone will have a worthy resale value, buy an iPhone.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.