Update: On Monday March 30th, Apple expanded its trade-in program in the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany and Italy to include smartphones from other manufacturers.
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Android users looking to make the jump to iPhone will soon have one more incentive to do so: the chance to trade in their old device for Apple Store credit toward an iPhone.
Sources familiar with Apple's plans told BuzzFeed News that the company plans to expand its iPhone Reuse and Recycling Program to include non-iOS handsets. That program, which debuted in 2013, currently offers customers up to $175 store credit toward a new iPhone for used iPhones that meet the company's trade-in criteria.
The updated program, first reported by 9to5Mac, will make a similar offer to consumers who use Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone handsets. It's expected to go live in a matter of weeks, sources said. It's not yet clear how much store credit Apple intends to offer for non-iOS handsets, and sources would not say by what criteria it will evaluate them.
Apple has long been pushing to increase the number of iPhone sales made through the company's own stores. Extending its iPhone trade-in program to non-iOS handsets is a smart way of doing that, enticing upgrade-ineligible consumers on almost any mobile platform into its stores with the promise of credit toward a new iPhone. And because iPhone buyers who purchased their device at the Apple Store typically own and buy more Apple products relative to iPhone buyers at other outlets, it's a particularly smart move ahead of the forthcoming launch of Apple Watch.
Apple declined to comment.