Update: To clarify, most iPhone 3GS owners aren’t upgrade eligible. Most iPhone 3G owners probably are and can pick up the new iPhone for $100.
If you’re a current iPhone owner looking to upgrade to the iPhone 4, you might want to check out Radio Shack on June 24. The electronics retailer is offering users the opportunity to bring in old iPhones, and in some cases electronic equipment, and use the trade-in value against the purchase price of a new iPhone. Some of the electronic devices that fall under the trade-in plan include phones, game consoles, and video cameras.
Now here’s where it gets interesting. The trade in value on an iPhone 3GS is $200, so if you’re currently toting around last year’s iPhone model and are eligible for an AT&T upgrade any time in 2010, you can pick up the new iPhone 4 for free. While trade-ins can ordinarily be done online, Radio Shack is advising users via its Twitter account that if the iPhone 4 is on your radar, your best bet is to show up in-store.
If you own an iPhone 3GS and aren’t eligible for an upgrade until 2011, you can still receive the $200 credit and purchase the iPhone 4 16GB model for $200 under AT&T’s Early Upgrade pricing. The 32GB model will cost you $300 after the trade-in.
Some other items to note – The $200 value of the 3GS applies to all models, regardless of device capacity. The device must obviously be in good working condition, though this determination is ultimately left to the discretion of each individual store. As far as we can tell from RS’s Twitter feed, though, good working condition effectively means no water damage and no cracked screens. Fair enough.
Also, trade-ins must be completed when you pick up your new device. That’s to say, if you have content on your old iPhone you want to keep, make sure you transfer it to your computer before picking up a new device.
And to reiterate what you may already be aware of, any iPhone user with a contract expiring in 2010 is upgrade eligible.
Lastly, if you own an iPhone 3G and happen to be upgrade eligible, you can trade in that puppy for $100 credit and pick up the new iPhone 4 for a cool $100.
June 14th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
only on launch day?
June 14th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
The trade and sav program is actually something they do all the time and hav for a few years now
June 14th, 2010 at 10:54 pm
I wonder if they’ll give me anything for my 1st-generation iPhone? 😕
June 14th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Beat me to it Shannon.
June 15th, 2010 at 5:04 am
How will the sim card issues be handled?
June 16th, 2010 at 8:38 am
scissors
June 16th, 2010 at 11:48 am
So basically you are saying that you will trade in my 3GS Iphone for a NEW 4OS Iphone? How will you guys handle the sim card issue…?
June 18th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
sounds kinda sketchy..?
June 20th, 2010 at 9:13 am
I have an iPhone 3gs and am not eligible for an upgrade but I defeitinely want to get my hands on the iPhone 4 ? I could trade in my 3gs 16 gb for 200 and then I could buy the iPhone? isn’t the iPhone 4 regular price if your not eligible ??
June 28th, 2010 at 12:56 am
As far as I’m concerned, this is total BS. From what I’ve been told by different RS asociates, this is how it plays out:
– Have your phone ‘appraised’ by a RS associate.
– Put your name on the wait-list (the one I went to see said that she only had 32 people on her list.)
– No guarantees on when (or if) Apple will deliver phones to specific RS stores, and no idea from RS WHEN the iPhones will show up from Apple.
– The price of the offer goes down DAILY. (No one seems to know by how much.)
– One associate told me that the offer for the $200 for the 3GS and the $100 3G was only good for the 25th, 26th and 27th of June.
Who needs that kind of convoluted grief? Nobody knows ANYTHING!! It seems like everyone is told something different.
Life’s too short! I’ll just wait until they’re available.
Jim
June 30th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Umm so I can trade my iPhone 3gs for the iPhone 4?
August 21st, 2010 at 12:59 am
ok for all of you people wondering if u get an iphone 4 if u trade in a 3gs, the answer is simply no. read the article in depth!!! jeez.