Smartphone owners are scrambling to sell off their old handsets as the release of Apple’s (AAPL) next-generation iPhone draws near. Apple will unveil the “iPhone 5″ during a press conference on September 12th, and the sleek new smartphone is expected to launch one week later on September 21st. According to data from eBay (EBAY), the volume of trade-in offers generated by the company’s eBay Instant Sale service recently spiked by 70% due to the influx of rumors surrounding the new iPhone’s imminent release.
EBay Instant Sale is an eBay service that allows users to get instant quotes for used working and non-working electronics. Users can then sell their gadgets directly to eBay rather than having to auction them off and deal with buyers.
Since July 30th, the day that September 12th was first pegged as the date Apple’s next iPhone will be unveiled, eBay has generated 185,000 quotes for users looking to offload their old smartphones.
“In the three days following the rumors hitting, eBay Instant Sale saw a 70% increase in the number of smartphone trade-in offers generated by customers to determine the current value of their phones,” an eBay spokesperson told BGR in an email. “Since July 30, more than 185,000 trade-in offers have been generated for customers seeking the trade-in values of their current smartphones as they prepare for the expected launch of the new iPhone.”
Also of note, the top-five smartphone models that eBay Instant Sale generated quotes for are as follows:
- iPhone 4S 16GB
- iPhone 4 8GB
- iPhone 4S 32GB
- iPhone 3GS 8GB
- iPhone 4 16GB
The fact that current iPhone owners appear to be the most eager to ditch their phones in favor of the next iPhone could be a good sign for Apple and its carrier partners. In addition to the new users Apple’s next iPhone will draw, current iPhone owners are ready and willing to upgrade — including iPhone 4S owners, many of whom are still under contract and will have to pay partially subsidized or even unsubsidized prices.
Apple’s next iPhone is expected to feature a 4-inch display, a new 19-pin dock connector and a thinner case that was recently examined on video, as well as 4G LTE and NFC connectivity.