subject: What to Do With the Old One When You Upgrade an iPhone [print this page] What to Do With the Old One When You Upgrade an iPhone
The world of electronics has certainly changed the way that people get things done on a daily basis. Instead of spending hours arguing over beers about who was the actual lead singer for The Cranberries, now it is possible to simply whip out a fancy web-browsing cell phone and figure it out in mere seconds. Likewise, freezing up and not knowing where to go to dinner can be solved with an app, figuring out whether or not a flight is on time doesn't require a leap of faith before driving to the airport, and it's possible to actually respond to an email with complete sentences from just about anywhere. Plus, every single time that they upgrade the iPhone, a new feature is added that simplifies life in an even better way.
All of these touches are reasons that people who never bothered to get on board with an Apple computer are suddenly gaga over the company that has always built its reputation on thinking different. And while a lot of people might be thinking the same these days, those behind the big changes at Apple are still pushing for innovations, changing the way that things work, and managing to get things done in a whole new way. The only trouble is, with their propensity to upgrade the iPhone quickly, they are creating a glut in the older products. And for consumers who are also eco-conscious, sometimes this raises a few red flags about how to handle upgrading to a newer version of the beloved phone without wasting the old one.
For those who are on a tighter budget, this question of how or when to upgrade an iPhone can be less about moral obligation and more about financial reality. After all, Mac products are not particularly cheap--so why shell out a considerable chunk of cash a couple of months down the line to get on board with the absolute latest product? For those who fall into this camp, it might make sense to finance the new device by selling the old one. Whether it's arranging a face-to-face meeting via Craigslist to exchange an older phone for cash or taking it to the web to figure out whether or not a phone would be more valuable if sold for parts, there are plenty of different ways to turn something that might not be running all that smoothly into a greatest new device out there.
Of course, those who are more concerned about the environment when they make the choice to upgrade iPhones do not have to worry as much about finding a place to sell a device. They can spend more time thinking about what to do with the older phone, which means not simply chucking it into the trash can. Whether it's passing it on to a child or someone else who needs a new phone, figuring out a respectable charity that needs to upgrade its communications but doesn't have the budget, or deciding to take it back to the retailer to see whether or not it's possible to trade it in for credit towards something else, there are plenty of different options out there.
