Apple starts iPhone trade-in program

Apple on Friday began letting US iPhone owners trade in their smartphones for credit toward buying new models.

The California company's trade-in program kicked off in the wake of unconfirmed reports of a September 10 event at which Apple will unveil new iPhones, with rumours ranging from a gold handset to a low-price version aimed at emerging markets. Rumour has it that the figure will be $280 US.

Speculation has centered around whether Apple will shift its strategy of focusing on premium devices priced at the high-end of the market to include a lower-cost handset appealing to people with tight budgets.

A survey by Gartner said Apple's share of the smartphone market worldwide fell to 14.2 percent in the second quarter, while Samsung's rose to 31.7 percent.

Cases for all current iPhones are available at CaseBuddy.