Apple has finally discontinued the iPod touch, ending its product offering after two decades of market dominance. So how much can you get for one now?
The discontinuation of the Apple iPod 2022 marked the end of an era, ending two decades of the company’s market dominance in the portable media industry, but does that mean the resale value of the vintage products will rise or fall? It’s unclear, though data can provide an estimate of where the market is trending. The last iPod released by Apple was the seventh-generation iPod touch, which was last refreshed in 2019. It was still sold on Apple’s website until May 2022, albeit without a home page on the site, and showed severe neglect even before it was finally released. discontinued. However, when the company announced it would only be sold while supplies last, the remaining inventory sold out quickly.
The iPod has come a long way from its first iteration in 2001 to the last iPod touch sold, so users looking for an old iPod in their drawer may be surprised by what they find. The very first iPod was a bulky and clunky music player with only about five gigabytes of storage. Though large by modern standards, the iPod was revolutionary compared to its rival portable cassette and compact disc players. It used a spinning hard drive similar to the one found in computers, and requires FireWire for syncing and charging. This is a far cry from the thin and elegant devices that Apple is now known for. Over the years, the company continued to use flash storage to make devices smaller and sleeker, so there are several iPods that have been sold over the course of two decades.
It’s reasonable to expect resale prices for older iPods to rise, since there’s no way to buy new ones after Apple’s discontinuation of the lineup. However, a report by Sales cell shows that this is not the case. According to the report, iPods have depreciated as much as 89 percent on average since their original release date. Prices vary depending on the device, release date and storage configuration, but all present a bleak outlook for the iPod resale market. The report states that the iPod with the most resale value is the seventh-generation iPod touch, the most recent of the devices, with an average resale market value of $100. However, this is somewhat misleading as it is one of the largest storage configurations available for purchase. Most seventh-generation iPod touches on the market will be less than 256 gigabytes in size, which equates to less value.
Outrageous resale values are anomalies
While there are offers on resale sites with extremely high asking prices, these are the anomaly and few have sold successfully at these prices so far. There will be a demand for vintage iPods that are rare and in good condition, but the average old iPod sitting in a drawer won’t be worth much. One listing on eBay is asking $100,000 for a limited-edition collection of working iPods, and while the items are currently looking at 141 people, it hasn’t sold yet. The item page states that the included iPods are from Apple’s line of devices with successful artists. Included in the package are the Billie Holiday iPod, Jimi Hendrix iPod, Bob Marley iPod and the John Lennon iPod. These were all limited edition units with all original packaging in good condition, hence the asking price, but it still hasn’t sold.
So, should you sell that old iPod in a junk drawer somewhere? The resale market isn’t likely to shock anytime soon — values are up just three percent since the shutdown, according to the report — so the answer could be no. Many people have an emotional connection to their iPods, as a few generations grew up with the devices or experienced pivotal life moments with an iPod. There is a sense of nostalgia associated with the product, perhaps more than with other Apple devices. For that reason it might be better to stick with an old one iPod instead of selling it for a few bucks.
Source: SellCell, eBay
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