Research · November 7, 2026
A carrier-locked phone sells for 24% less than the same phone unlocked
Across 3,058 matched price pairs from 4 mail-in buyers covering 151 phone models, the locked version of a phone fetches a median 24% less, or $66 on the typical phone. The discount differs by carrier and by buyer, and the full table is below.
24%median discount for a locked phone against the same phone unlocked, good condition
$66median dollars lost to the lock on one phone
3,058matched pairs: same model, storage, condition and buyer, unlocked vs locked
151phone models with both an unlocked and a carrier-locked offer
- A Verizon lock costs the most: a median $74 against $56 for AT&T.
- The discount depends on the buyer as much as the carrier: 19% at SaveGadget against 30% at Gadget Traders.
- If the carrier will unlock the phone (most do once it is paid off), doing that before selling is the single biggest thing a seller can do to the price. How to unlock your phone from any major US carrier walks through each carrier’s rules.
The three costliest locks
#1 costliest lock
Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold
$720lost to a Verizon lock
$1,500 unlocked · $780 locked
#2 costliest lock
Motorola Razr Fold
$300lost to a AT&T lock
$670 unlocked · $370 locked
#3 costliest lock
Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold
$277lost to a Verizon lock
$835 unlocked · $558 locked
Median dollars lost, by carrier
Buyers price each lock separately, because an unlock request succeeds more often on some networks than others.
| Lock | Price pairs | Median discount | Median dollars |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verizon | 1007 | 26% | $74 |
| T-Mobile | 1033 | 25% | $70 |
| AT&T | 1018 | 19% | $56 |
By buyer
Some buyers barely discount a lock; others cut deeply. If your phone is locked, the buyer you pick matters more than usual.
| Buyer | Price pairs | Median discount |
|---|---|---|
 | 790 | 19% |
 | 924 | 22% |
 | 610 | 26% |
 | 734 | 30% |
Unlock it first
Every carrier is required to unlock a paid-off phone on request, and most do it within two business days. Our guide How to unlock your phone from any major US carrier covers AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile step by step, including the waiting periods and what to do when the phone was bought second-hand. Unlocking is free, and on the typical phone in this study it is worth $66.
By phone: best unlocked offer against best locked offer
Top 60 phones by unlocked value. Each cell is the highest offer any buyer makes for that lock.
| Phone | Unlocked | AT&T | Verizon | T-Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold512GB · good · best offer per column | $1,500 | $810 46% less | $780 48% less | $810 46% less |
 Apple iPhone Duo256GB · good · best offer per column | $1,310 | $1,200 8% less | $1,100 16% less | $1,200 8% less |
 Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra1TB · good · best offer per column | $935 | $829 11% less | $765 18% less | $787 16% less |
 Samsung Galaxy Z Fold81TB · good · best offer per column | $893 | $808 10% less | $710 20% less | $765 14% less |
Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold1TB · good · best offer per column | $835 | $668 20% less | $558 33% less | $625 25% less |
 Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max256GB · good · best offer per column | $810 | $680 16% less | $642 21% less | $700 14% less |
 Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max256GB · good · best offer per column | $740 | $612 17% less | $612 17% less | $612 17% less |
 Apple iPhone 18 Pro256GB · good · best offer per column | $725 | $600 17% less | $560 23% less | $660 9% less |
 Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7256GB · good · best offer per column | $700 | $600 14% less | $491 30% less | $550 21% less |
 Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold256GB · good · best offer per column | $680 | $535 21% less | $550 19% less | $526 23% less |
Motorola Razr Fold512GB · good · best offer per column | $670 | $370 45% less | $370 45% less | $370 45% less |
 Apple iPhone 17 Pro256GB · good · best offer per column | $660 | $510 23% less | $455 31% less | $570 14% less |
 Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra256GB · good · best offer per column | $608 | $515 15% less | $491 19% less | $490 19% less |
 Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max256GB · good · best offer per column | $587 | $460 22% less | $421 28% less | $480 18% less |
 Google Pixel 11 Pro XL1TB · good · best offer per column | $572 | $493 14% less | $440 23% less | $476 17% less |
 Google Pixel 11 Pro1TB · good · best offer per column | $536 | $459 14% less | $405 24% less | $442 18% less |
 Apple iPhone Air256GB · good · best offer per column | $521 | $435 17% less | $421 19% less | $425 18% less |
 Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra256GB · good · best offer per column | $520 | $435 16% less | $366 30% less | $385 26% less |
 Apple iPhone 17256GB · good · best offer per column | $510 | $400 22% less | $400 22% less | $375 26% less |
 OnePlus 15256GB · good · best offer per column | $483 | – | – | $383 21% less |
 OnePlus Open512GB · good · best offer per column | $480 | – | – | $415 14% less |
 Motorola Razr Ultra1TB · good · best offer per column | $480 | $410 15% less | $335 30% less | $360 25% less |
 Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max256GB · good · best offer per column | $461 | $341 26% less | $317 31% less | $356 23% less |
 Apple iPhone 16 Pro128GB · good · best offer per column | $460 | $366 20% less | $313 32% less | $395 14% less |
 Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus256GB · good · best offer per column | $460 | $382 17% less | $375 18% less | $375 18% less |
 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8256GB · good · best offer per column | $455 | $389 15% less | $379 17% less | $389 15% less |
 Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold256GB · good · best offer per column | $440 | $324 26% less | $295 33% less | $261 41% less |
 Apple iPhone 16 Plus128GB · good · best offer per column | $430 | $288 33% less | $330 23% less | $288 33% less |
 Google Pixel 10 Pro XL256GB · good · best offer per column | $427 | $347 19% less | $341 20% less | $327 23% less |
 Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6256GB · good · best offer per column | $425 | $330 22% less | $324 24% less | $288 32% less |
 Samsung Galaxy S26256GB · good · best offer per column | $417 | $357 14% less | $317 24% less | $332 20% less |
 Motorola Razr+ (2023)256GB · good · best offer per column | $400 | $330 18% less | $290 28% less | $330 18% less |
 Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra256GB · good · best offer per column | $397 | $340 14% less | $277 30% less | $293 26% less |
 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7256GB · good · best offer per column | $395 | $320 19% less | $288 27% less | $320 19% less |
 Google Pixel 11256GB · good · best offer per column | $385 | $330 14% less | $310 19% less | $310 19% less |
 Apple iPhone 16128GB · good · best offer per column | $380 | $281 26% less | $276 27% less | $275 28% less |
 Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus256GB · good · best offer per column | $380 | $321 16% less | $252 34% less | $296 22% less |
 OnePlus 13256GB · good · best offer per column | $364 | – | – | $243 33% less |
 Google Pixel 10 Pro128GB · good · best offer per column | $343 | $265 23% less | $260 24% less | $255 26% less |
 OnePlus 15R256GB · good · best offer per column | $330 | – | – | $250 24% less |
 Apple iPhone 17e256GB · good · best offer per column | $327 | $240 27% less | $250 24% less | $275 16% less |
 Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max128GB · good · best offer per column | $325 | $250 23% less | $205 37% less | $261 20% less |
 Apple iPhone 15 Pro128GB · good · best offer per column | $325 | $234 28% less | $234 28% less | $235 28% less |
 Microsoft Surface Duo 2128GB · good · best offer per column | $313 | $285 9% less | $297 5% less | – |
 Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge256GB · good · best offer per column | $311 | $253 19% less | $256 18% less | $244 22% less |
 Samsung Galaxy S25128GB · good · best offer per column | $296 | $236 20% less | $210 29% less | $192 35% less |
 Google Pixel 9 Pro XL128GB · good · best offer per column | $295 | $220 25% less | $184 38% less | $200 32% less |
 Apple iPhone 15 Plus128GB · good · best offer per column | $290 | $195 33% less | $217 25% less | $186 36% less |
 OnePlus 12256GB · good · best offer per column | $288 | – | – | $248 14% less |
 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 FE128GB · good · best offer per column | $285 | $255 11% less | $250 12% less | $245 14% less |
 Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max128GB · good · best offer per column | $276 | $265 4% less | $235 15% less | $190 31% less |
 Apple iPhone 14 Pro128GB · good · best offer per column | $276 | $195 29% less | $225 18% less | $205 26% less |
 Google Pixel 10128GB · good · best offer per column | $272 | $245 10% less | $196 28% less | $222 18% less |
 Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 5G256GB · good · best offer per column | $266 | $171 36% less | $171 36% less | $171 36% less |
 Apple iPhone 15128GB · good · best offer per column | $265 | $175 34% less | $176 34% less | $166 37% less |
 Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra256GB · good · best offer per column | $245 | $205 16% less | $144 41% less | $175 29% less |
 Samsung Galaxy S26 FE128GB · good · best offer per column | $245 | $170 31% less | $125 49% less | $145 41% less |
 Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus256GB · good · best offer per column | $241 | $166 31% less | $155 36% less | $141 41% less |
 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6256GB · good · best offer per column | $236 | $201 15% less | $178 25% less | $196 17% less |
 Google Pixel 9 Pro128GB · good · best offer per column | $235 | $181 23% less | $180 23% less | $200 15% less |
How these numbers are made
- Source: the price feeds each buyer publishes for this site, downloaded on November 7, 2026. Buyers: Gadget Traders, OCBuyBack, SaveGadget, The Whiz Cells.
- A pair is one buyer quoting the same model, storage size and condition tier ("good") both unlocked and locked to AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile. Buyers that do not price locks separately contribute no pairs.
- The discount is unlocked minus locked, as a share of unlocked. Medians are used so a few extreme pairs do not move the result.
- The per-phone table shows one storage size per model (the one with the most carriers quoted) and the highest offer from any buyer per column.
Cite or link to this page:
Reuse the table with a link back. The CSV is updated with every rebuild of the site.
Trade Into Cash, "Selling a Locked iPhone or Phone: What the Lock Costs You", https://tradeintocash.com/research/locked-vs-unlocked-phone-value/ (data as of November 7, 2026)Reuse the table with a link back. The CSV is updated with every rebuild of the site.