Piper Jaffray: iPhone resale value depreciates less than Samsung Galaxy phones, survey shows

Investment bank Piper Jaffray released the iPhone resale value index today. After comparing the iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, Galaxy 3, and Galaxy Note2, which were auctioned on eBay, they found that the iPhone's resale depreciation rate is lower than that of Samsung's Galaxy phones.

Analyst Gene Munster said the resale value index shows how much a phone is worth to consumers. "Over the past eight weeks, the data shows that the iPhone has depreciated less than the other two popular Galaxy phones," Munster wrote.

Although the original price of the iPhone 5 was 46% higher than that of the Galaxy S3, its depreciation rate was lower than that of the latter - the iPhone 5 depreciated by 11.2% while the S3 depreciated by 13.7%.

The most eye-catching product in the survey is definitely the iPhone 4S. Although this phone has been on sale for more than a year, its depreciation rate in the past two weeks is only 7%. The second place is the iPhone 4, with a depreciation rate of 8.8%.

Samsung's two popular models, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note2, have become the biggest losers in this battle. Their prices have dropped by 13.7% and 15% in the past two months; the average price of S3 has dropped from $360 to $320, and the average price of Note2 has dropped from $550 to $444.

Munster said that with the arrival of the iPhone 5S, he believes the prices of previous models will continue to fall.