The Galaxy S21 still has a number. It just gets smaller every month.
S21, S21+, Ultra or FE. Five years on, and still worth collecting from you for free.
At five years the S21 has stopped being a phone people upgrade to and started being a phone people need: a first smartphone, a work phone, a replacement for something that broke. That demand is real and it is steady, but it is not the demand that pays flagship prices.
What that means practically is that the S21 has already done most of its falling. The number is what it is, it is not going to recover, and the difference between selling today and selling in six months is smaller than it would have been two years ago. It is not zero, though.
If it is sitting unused, the honest position is that the money is worth more to you than the phone is, and the collection costs you nothing either way.
Every one of these has two numbers.
What it is worth working, and what it is worth faulty. Both are real, both are yours in about a minute, and both depend on the actual device rather than a best case printed on a page. That is why the number lives in the calculator and not in a table here.
Galaxy S21 Ultra
128GB, 256GB or 512GB, S Pen compatible
Galaxy S21+
128GB or 256GB
Galaxy S21
128GB or 256GB
Galaxy S21 FE
128GB or 256GB
If you are upgrading, you are not selling. You are part-paying.
From a five-year-old flagship, the biggest felt improvement per rand is a two- or three-year-old flagship rather than a new mid-range. The screen and the cameras are in a different class and the price has already fallen.
Take the payout as EpicDeals.co.za credit instead of cash and we add 12% on top. That is us paying you for not needing the money in your account today, and it costs you nothing if you were going to spend it here anyway.
The 12% is only worth taking if you were going to spend it. If you need the cash, take the cash, and we will not make the voucher hard to refuse.
What actually moves the number.
Whether it still works at all
At this age the gap between fully working and faulty is proportionally the biggest thing on the page. A clean, working S21 is worth several times a dead one, which is not true of a newer flagship where even the broken one has real parts value.
Battery, five years in
Assume it is low. If yours has already been replaced, say so, because that genuinely helps here in a way it does not on a newer phone.
The Ultra premium, which is smaller now
The S21 Ultra still leads its generation, but the gap has narrowed with age. Buyers at this price point are shopping for a working phone rather than for a specific camera system.
Software support, which is running out
This generation is at or near the end of its guaranteed Android updates. That is the single biggest reason the price will keep drifting down rather than levelling off.
Things that do not disqualify it.
Every one of these lowers the offer. Not one of them ends it. Pick the matching condition, say what is wrong in the notes, and the price you are shown already accounts for it.
- Cracked or shattered screen, front or back glass
- Burn-in or a green line down the AMOLED panel
- A battery that swells, dies at 30% or will not hold a day
- Fingerprint sensor under the screen that has stopped reading
- USB-C port that only charges if you hold the cable just so
- Camera with dust, haze or a rattling stabiliser
- Water damage, including phones that dried out and seemed fine
- Will not switch on at all
Three ways to take the money.
Cash
Instant offer
Assessed within 1-3 working days of arriving, paid within 5 working days of your offer being confirmed.
+12%
Trade-in voucher
Take it as credit on EpicDeals.co.za instead and we add 12%. Useful if the plan was always to upgrade.
+10%
Consignment
We list it, we sell it, you get 10% more than the instant offer. Most sell within 13 days.
Trading since 2014 as Epic Deals, with 2,500+ reviews and 30 people who answer the phone. Not a stranger with a bakkie and a WhatsApp number.
Galaxy S21 questions.
Also selling one of these?
One minute, one number.
No account, no obligation, no salesperson phoning you at supper time.