The Apple Store Just Offered Me $204 for My iPhone 4S

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By Samantha Murphy Kelly2013-08-30 14:50:42 -0400

The Apple Store just offered me $204 for the iPhone 4S I purchased back in 2011.

Not long after the company launched on Friday an iPhone trade-in program — which allows customers to return their existing smartphones in for credit toward another model — I headed to the 14th Street retail location in Manhattan to see what I could get for the device I bought back in 2011.

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An Apple genius took my phone and entered its serial number into his own device. After inspecting my 4S' casing and display, he promptly offered me a going rate.

I was told that software on his device auto-populated a price and he took my phone's "very good" condition into account before offering $204 store credit. (He said he traded his own 32GB iPhone 4 earlier in the day for $122).

There's no menu of what each model will get you because evaluations are so specific to your device and how it has held up. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier in the day that Apple is willing to go up to $280, but it's hard to predict what exactly you'll be offered.

Although $204 sounds like a good deal for my 2-year old iPhone and I've been eyeing an upgrade ever since the 5 hit last year, I wasn't inclined to buy a new one just days before the iPhone 5S will make its debut. Plus, you have to use your Apple store credit the same day you trade it your iPhone and the amount must be used toward a new one — no other products can be substituted.

What do you think of Apple's trade-in iPhone program? Would you swap yours in this way? Let us know in the comments below.

Image: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Topics: apple, Apps and Software, iPhone, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, Mobile, Tech