What is a cracked iPhone actually worth?

If you have ever typed your cracked phone into a buyback site and been offered less than the cost of a coffee, you are not alone.

The reason is simple: most buyback sites treat a cracked screen as a write off. Their business is reselling phones as they arrive, so anything that needs work gets priced as scrap. The screen is the most expensive part of the phone, and if they cannot resell the device without replacing it, they pass that whole cost, plus margin, back to you.

We look at it differently. A cracked iPhone 13 still contains a working board, camera, battery and frame. Repaired, it becomes a phone someone will happily buy. Beyond repair, it becomes parts that keep other phones alive. Either way it has real value, which is why our calculator gives a cracked iPhone 13 a price of its own instead of rounding it to scrap, and the price on screen is always the live one.

The honest answer to the question, then: a cracked iPhone is worth what its working parts are worth, not what the laziest buyer will pay. Get a few quotes, and treat any offer under a tenner for a phone that powers on as a sign to keep looking.

How the price is worked out. On our list a cracked phone sits in one of two damaged grades. If the glass is cracked but the LCD underneath is good, the phone is Picture fine, and it keeps most of its working price. If the picture itself is wrong (lines, black patches, ghost touch, or a screen that is not original), it is Picture faulty, and the price drops further, because the whole display has to be replaced. The exact figures depend on the model, and each model page shows them for every size.

The one thing we cannot buy is a phone that will not switch on. If yours powers up, even with a smashed screen, it has a price, and the sell broken iPhone page lists every model's damaged prices side by side. Postage is free and tracked, the price is locked for 10 days, and we pay within 48 hours of the phone arriving.