Originally Posted by
bocastephen
The phone is flawless, but my battery health is 'service required' and at 78% - so maybe it's best not to do the trade in and just sell it privately, or bite the bullet and get it at the Apple Store and pay the tax since the Apple Store does not adjust the value for battery health.
Editing to add - Japan Apple Store trade-in values are much lower than the USA. When I use the Japan website to calculate my cost, the phone (with local tax) is US$1,250 equivalent, while if I bought the phone in the USA and did the trade, it would cost me $1,173 with local tax included. Another option is to buy the phone at Bic Camera for $1,350 no tax, then do the trade-in when I get home and receive a US Apple Gift card for $320 to use towards my M4 Macbook Air.
Decisions, decisions.
You don't have Apple Care on it ? You would get the battery swap done for free .
But yeah if it's on 78% service required then best not to use a non Apple trade in.
BTW have you looked at Apple's refrub prices for M4 machines ? You could do an instore pickup on a refurb machine from the Japan apple store (but obviously order in plenty of time). I just upgraded from an M1 MAX to a M4 Pro 20core (the M4 MAX was too rich money - they've seriously priced up in the past 4 years...). I saved 60,000 yen ($400 USD) compared to the "as new price". Might be worth a look ?