Why I never trade in my devices

Now I know what some readers may think just from reading the title alone “but Nick, you’re sacrificing your trade-in equity every year you hang onto old devices!” I still can’t understand how the industry has managed to gaslight so many people into actually believing that there even is such a thing as “trade-in equity”. I largely blame the automotive industry for starting this trend, and it appears the tech industry has followed suit with this. My philosophy has always been that if someone else is willing to give me money for it, why wouldn’t I extract that value for myself?

Let’s take an example. Say a new phone has just launched, I’ve been eyeing it up because there are some considerable improvements over the previous model. Perhaps the camera system has finally gotten a massive spec bump, and being into mobile photography, I may want that new sensor/lens. First, I’ll assess my need for this new hardware and do some research. When the iPhone 15 Pro Max dropped, it brought in a 48 MP sensor that could shoot at full resolution without using ProRAW, it introduced a 5x telephoto lens, and a RAM upgrade from 6 GB to 8 GB. Sounds like a solid spec sheet, maybe worth considering trading in a 12 Pro Max for, right? Considering the 12 Pro Max still has 12 MP cameras all around and a 2.5x telephoto zoom.

But when researching devices, I came across the Google Pixel 6 Pro. I could buy one, gently used, for ¼ the price of the 15 Pro Max when it launched. Being that I plunged head-first into the iOS ecosystem from using mostly Motorolas, I did want to still keep on top of the latest Android updates and stay sharp in that aspect of the industry, so I picked one up practically for a steal. 48 MP cameras across the main and 4x telephoto lenses. Now, some may say: “but 4x telephoto isn’t the same as 5x on the iPhone”. Maybe not, but that 5x telephoto was still12 MP on that generation of the iPhone. The iPhone 17 Pro Max just launched this year, with, guess what? 4X telephoto, and they just finally caught up to that 48 MP spec with this “innovative new launch”. Only took them four years. Th e Pixel also had 12 GB RAM, and when the whole AI revolution hit, and Apple said “only our 8 GB models and up will get Apple Intelligence” Google dwarfed them by giving my 12 GB 2021 Pixel 6 Pro Gemini.

The Pixel served as a sidekick for a while, then, became my work phone for a bit (thanks to Google’s ability to handle multiple sandboxed profiles, I can use it for work if needed, then just delete the profile when no longer needed and carry on while remaining fully compliant with best practices for data hygiene), but now that my current company actually provides a dedicated work phone, and with my recent trip to Florida, I’ve actually just backed up my data, nuked the phone, and paved a fresh installation with what I call my “travel kit”. Since I was flying to Florida, I knew I’d be passing through checkpoints, my phone may get lost in the shuffle, or there’s a high chance I could have it roll out of my pocket on the plane and accidentally end up in the shadow realm, or whatever else that could possibly go wrong on a trip. I also just wanted a care-free phone that I could abandon poolside and just enjoy a dip in the water without even giving it a passing thought. So I set this device up with a minimal compliment of what I needed. Things like video player apps, some content that I wanted to watch on the plane that I had downloaded earlier, music, and that was about it. No personal logins, passwords, or anything sensitive. No apps beyond the minimal compliment as well. Anything that would need my attention when I was on vacation, could be responded to after my vacation. Anything personal that I did need, I just kept on a secure jump server, that I could nuke access from by using a FDE secured tablet that I also kept securely stored away in my bag. The Pixel itself also had remote wipe capabilities.

And I still have to say, that was the best call I could’ve ever made. I enjoyed every single moment of that vacation, absolutely stress-free. I captured a ton of memorable 48MP photos and 4K video to preserve the experience and revisit those treasured moments anytime I want, or to share with friends and family. When I was walking through Universal Studios recording all the cool things happening around me, I remember recording in 4K, in the blistering hot sun, on 33 degree Celsius days (when the weather back home was -20 degrees Celsius), sun beating down on my Pixel like it was collecting rent, chipset absolutely frying because it’s also trying to process 4K60 video in real time. I started to get thermal warnings telling me to stop recording and to put my phone in a cool place. I laughed, ignored it, and said “I am NOT missing the opportunity to record this moment”, pushed the phone through it, to the point the screen dimmed, and the phone dropped to 1 frame per second to force itself into a cooldown cycle. I laughed, kept using it anyway, rinsed the battery dry, got back to the hotel with it on life support (maybe at 5%), slapped it on the rapid charger for half an hour, ripped it back off the charger, phone was hot enough to boil an egg, then dropped it by the pool in the hot sun again when I went for a dip. I treated that thing worse than some would treat a rental car. Accubattery actually showed me that I had 84% health before the trip, I nuked that down to 77% health by the end of the trip. Within 1 week of using the phone this way. I didn’t care. Got home, changed the battery with another $30 unit I sourced from a vendor, Pixel 6 Pro’s as good as new, reviewed the photos and video, and everything turned out flawlessly, 4K60 smooth as butter, 48 MP photos as crisp as if they just rolled out of a 17 Pro Max camera system.

I take this same philosophy with all of my devices. Old laptops/tablets? Those could be travel devices, or endpoints that I may take when I go to a public space like a cafe or whatnot, where I may not want to bring some of my newer devices. For instance, my old 7th gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon that I bought used for 1/8 the price of new, has saved a lot of scratches, bumps, and other wear on my MacBook Pro, so I'm able to get a way longer lifespan out of the MacBook, and keep it nice throughout its life, at least until something better someday dethrones it, and that becomes my sacrificial endpoint.

You see, by hanging onto my old devices and not trading in, I can build a mini fleet of devices, which actually buys me peace of mind. While most people would sweat and stress over Applecare and device payments? I bought two phones, used, with flagship specifications, for the price range of the extended warranty on a brand new Pro Max-tier iPhone. Both of those phones combined still came out to less than even a base model iPhone 17, but offered so much more in return. If the Pixel got damaged, lost, or destroyed? I was already prepared for that. By the time I’d get home, my 12 Pro Max would still be waiting for me, untouched, ready for action. Imagine how differently that would’ve played out if I had financed the latest iPhone, as my one and only phone, traded in my 12 Pro Max for it for maybe $450 or even less. I’d have been sweating and stressing all vacation. I’d have to make sure that phone stayed locked in the safe when I went to the pool, I would’ve missed out on all those photo/video opportunities, my phone would’ve popped one thermal warning and I would’ve been sweating buckets instead of laughing at it and saying “you’re done when I say you’re done”. That one decision alone turned what could’ve been a stressful vacation into what a vacation should be – carefree, and a full detach from the stress and worries of daily life.

I'll attach some of my favourite photos from the trip below so you can enjoy them as well!