From Popular Mechanics Maybe
you had an iPhone 4 then jumped to an iPhone 6. Maybe you were the
first in line for the iPad Pro and left your old tablet in a drawer
somewhere. Or maybe you gave it all up and left an iPhone behind for the
arms of the Android Army. Whatever the reason, you may have an old
Apple product sitting around, and if it’s in decent shape, Apple may
just take it back and give you a little money (or more accurately, Apple
Gift Cards) for it.
The Apple Renew program and its Liam recycling robot were a big part of the Apple event
this week. It’s essentially a recycling program in which Apple will
take your devices and scrap them for parts. It’s a partnership with
Brightstar, and phones in good working shape will catch some decent
money. Be warned, though, that if your phone or tablet or computer has
anything beyond normal wear and tear, you’ll be able to recycle it for
free but Apple won’t give you any trade-in value. (That leaves me
without a dime for the iPhone 5c I dropped on the bathroom floor,
shattering the screen.)
Head on over to this site
Apple set up where you can arrange to turn in your phone and see how
much you’ll get for it. The value ranges from $50 for iPhone 4s in good
shape to $300 for a 6S Plus. Apple will take your old iPads for anywhere
from $65 to $225. Renew also will accept some MacBooks and even newer
Windows computer-probably part of the big push we saw this week from
Apple, which wants Windows users to upgrade to iPad Pros. Trade-in
values for those can vary wildly.
If
your device is broken, never fear. At the very least Apple will recycle
it for you in any of their stores, leaving you with an easy way to
avoid putting your device in the garbage and letting it become e-waste.
There are other sites online where you can get a little cash for them,
too, but only a little. So it’s up to you whether you want to try to get
rid of it by Apple recycling or by an online store. Either way, please
don’t just throw it away.
