The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is worth a lot of money now.
Samsung is leaning heavily into the trade-in racket as a way of dropping prices for its new smartphones. Virtually any deal the company runs will include wildly high trade-in valuations. It even launched a new standalone trade-in scheme in Korea and France that doesn’t require the purchase of a new device.
The benefit to Samsung for this is obvious. It is more attractive to potential shoppers than straight-up slashing the price of the handset (which can affect the high-end image of the brand) and there’s a higher chance of keeping that person in Samsung’s ecosystem.
People typically upgrade every 3.6 years and it is no coincidence the Korean company offers the most for phones released within the last four years, especially if they’re Galaxy devices. A good rule of thumb for getting the highest valuation is trading it in while the phone is still in the software update window.
Samsung’s trade-in tactics also mean that there are money-saving opportunities for savvy shoppers. If you want to gamble, you can pick up a second-hand phone on eBay, Swappa, or your local used electronics shop and save it for Samsung’s next sale.
Having written extensively about smartphone pricing over the last two years, particularly Samsung’s deals, there are a handful of devices that repeatedly receive the best valuations.
- Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra – $500 (selling for under $250 on the secondary market)
- Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra – currently $600, valued at $400 previously. (Selling on the secondary market for under $200)
- Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus – $400 (selling on the secondary market for between $200 and $250).
- Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 – $350 (selling on the secondary market for between $100 and $160).
If you buy any of these devices second-hand, you will need to ensure that they adhere to Samsung’s trade-in criteria to get the full value.
Samsung’s trade-in criteria.
Samsung plays this trade-in game often
There is no guarantee that Samsung will pay these prices for this selection of smartphones in its next promotion, but they do appear regularly in most of its sales at roughly these valuations.
These prices also fluctuate depending on what handset you’re buying. The valuations listed above are for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. If you’re purchasing the Galaxy Z Fold 6, the Note 20 Ultra goes up to $800, for example.
A rarer deal is the Korean company’s “any smartphone, any condition” promotion that it occasionally runs in the U.K. If you have an old Android or iPhone taking up space in your drawer, let it, because this will be an easy £200 ($251) off your next purchase.
Samsung told me that it will truly accept any old phone (I used the Google Pixel 1 as an example), so keep an eye on good condition (still working) older handsets on the secondary market. You can pick up the Pixel 4a selling for under £50 ($62.98), the Galaxy S2 for £21 ($26.45), or the Samsung Galaxy S6 for under £40 ($50.38). If you have the money to spare, this is a low-risk gamble.
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