Junk drawers used to be filled with scissors, paperclips and died out Sharpies. These days, they’re accumulating more and more old tech. Could that “junk” actually be gold?
That answer might technically be “yes” if you’re hoarding old iPhones that use gold in circuit boards and connectors… but don’t get too excited. Brooke DiPalma, a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance, said there’s only about 0.034 grams of gold per phone, equal to around $6 as of this May.
She explained that its really a “minimal part” of the thousands of dollars people shell out for the smartphones. While the gold hiding away inside iPhones might not be accessible or easy to sell, the phones themselves are often worth something.
“So, from an environmental and also social perspective, the best thing to do are to resell or donate devices that are still working,” sustainability professor Dr. Eric Williams of the Rochester Institute of Technology told KCBS Radio this week. “Because a lot of times a lot of those devices in the drawers or closets are still working… a lot of times you can get money for them.”
Apple has a trade-in program that currently offers up to the iPhone 8 (released nearly a decade ago) to $695 for the iPhone 16 Pro Max released in 2024. Older models can also be found on eBay – there were several iPhone 7 listings in the $20 to $35 range on that as of this weekend. CNET also recently published a list of places where people can sell their old phones.
So, why are there people with old phones collecting in drawers? According to Williams, there are few reasons.
“In our study, we found two very important ones are that people don’t know what the alternatives are,” he said. “And the other reason is that they’re often worried about the data that’s on the device, and they’re not sure how to handle that.”
For those in that second category, Williams said there are ways to save and protect data.
“Depending on the device, there are different protocols to remove that data,” he said. Williams added that, for “many of your devices, like your cell phones or laptops or tablets, they’re linked to your account,” and data saved in the cloud rather than on the device itself is on accessible via password.
Some of us might have even older tech in the junk drawer, such as flip phones or brick phones that were used for playing “Snake” and typing in T9 word rather than using apps, or old iPod MP3 players. It might be easy to see these as true “junk,” but vintage tech, especially the MP3 players, has a Gen Z fanbase and could bring in some money.
To sum it up, it’s always worthwhile to check out what’s in that drawer full of frayed emotional support charging cables and old tablets collecting dust, even if it’s not a literal bar of gold.
