Apple's environmental efforts have been lauded by many critics for their contribution to reduce waste produced by old devices which are no longer of any use. Just recently, Apple's website where the Renew Program could be seen has been updated to include the Apple Watch.
This means that starting now, Apple Watches can already be sent it for it to be dismantled in their facilities and to have each part recycled. However, when an Apple Watch is sent in to be recycled, the company will not offer their customers any gift card or credit in the same way that it does with its other devices.
9 to 5 Mac reports that when the Apple Watch was first released, its price tag that would compete with a lot of luxury watch brands already raised speculations about its resale value and many others. It is noteworthy that the gold Apple Watch was worth $10,000 plus which makes it worth much more than the actual gold that is in it.
As this was quite outrageous, the fancy gold edition was later on discontinued and replaced with a $1,500 ceramic build. Apple also introduced a second generation Apple Watch which brought down the price tags of first-generation models.
An iPhone 4s can be recycled for credit, while an Apple Watch has none. BGR reports that what Apple is actually doing here is running a free recycling program for old devices which are probably just lying around corners and gathering dust.
This means that when an old iPhone owner sends in his or her old device, Apple will dispose of it and send back some credit or gift certificate. While the old device will be bought for less than market value, it is still a great way to dispose of old devices while getting new credit for it which could somehow help with an upgrade.
As this recycling program is pretty new, it still is not known as to why one would get more credit by trading an old iPhone 4 than if they had their not-so-old Apple watch, which costs much more, recycled. This could mean that Apple itself admits that the Apple Watch's value was really blown out of proportion as speculated, or that it could have been worth but dwindled down due to market factors.
