T-Mobile customers planning to upgrade to the upcoming iPhone 17 just got some disappointing news. The carrier is pulling the plug on one of its most customer-friendly policies right when people need it most.

According to PhoneArena, T-Mobile will no longer accept phones in any condition for trade-in deals starting with the iPhone 17 series. This means your cracked screen iPhone or that old Android with a dead battery won’t qualify for those big trade-in discounts anymore.

This change hits particularly hard because T-Mobile only started offering this generous program back in December. Customers could trade in literally any working phone – no matter how banged up – and still get up to $1,000 off a new iPhone 16 Pro. It was a game-changer for people who typically couldn’t get much value from their damaged devices.

The timing couldn’t be worse. Early rumors suggest the iPhone 17 will cost more than the current iPhone 16 series, making those trade-in savings even more important for everyday customers looking to upgrade.

A verified T-Mobile employee shared this information on Reddit, though the company hasn’t officially announced the policy change yet. Interestingly, T-Mobile is still running the any-condition trade-in deal for Samsung’s Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S24 phones.

For T-Mobile customers who were counting on trading in their less-than-perfect phones, this change might force them to look at other carriers or hold onto their current devices longer. With phone prices continuing to climb, losing access to these flexible trade-in options makes upgrading much more expensive for regular customers who don’t baby their devices.

Source: PhoneArena