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The Moto X, which is now on sale, has more customization options -- wood backs, crazy colors, engraved messages -- than any previous smartphone. This is all thanks to Motorola's Moto Maker tool, which lets you fully customize your new phone at the time of purchase. You can spend your afternoon today swapping colorways and composing cute messages that will go on the back of your new devices.
This will make you happy now, but it will only lead to a headache if you choose to sell the phone in six months or a year.
There are 360 possible color combinations for the Moto X, some of them guaranteed to be hideous. You may love your pink-on-white combo, but it's certainly not for everyone. Factor in custom engravings, and there's a real possibility that two identically functional handsets can have wildly different resale values -- even though both are "factory stock" phones.
The variance in resale price isn't easily predictable. In fact, the resellers I talked to don't quite know how to handle the Moto X.
"Generally we don't deduct for factory customization, and we tend to offer the [standard] value quoted," said Anthony Scarsella, chief gadget officer at Gazelle, which resells smartphones to customers around the world. "But we haven't seen a product like this, and we don't know if there's a secondary market."
The old phone you're using right now might feel like junk when compared to a shiny new handset, but it's worth something -- a new iPhone 4S still retails for $550 from Apple, and you can purchase last year's Galaxy S3 unopened and unlocked for $400 at Amazon. Services like Gazelle and Nextworth will give you cash for your old phone and sell it through their own established channels. Additionally, all four big carriers have trade-in programs where your old handset covers part of the cost of your new one. Even Apple's getting in on the trade-in game, and the old standbys Craigslist and eBay still list enormous mountains of second-hand electronics.
This thriving resale market is driven by two primary factors: a healthy demand for refurbished handsets in developing markets, and an inherent fungibility that allows companies to accept trade-ins without haggling. Because an iPhone is an iPhone (with few variations) it's easy to look up a "blue-book" style price quote and offer it to the consumer. There are, after all, only 18 iPhone 5 SKUs.
The Moto X -- with its myriad color choices and its factory engraving option -- could royally muck up this market.
While Scarsella says Gazelle currently doesn't deduct for engraving on iPhones and iPads, there tends to be particularly large demand for Apple products in developing markets. The means iPads and iPods get refurbished after being sold wholesale, a process where the case is removed -- engraved or not -- and replaced. So engraving doesn't matter as much on Apple's devices because the replacement parts are readily available. Clean, non-engraved backs for the Moto X may not be as easy to come by 12 months from now.
Jeff Trachsel, chief marketing officer at Nextworth, says his trade-in company will be watching the Moto X closely too. "We don't do different pricing with different colors, but we do take off value for engraving," he said. In general, we don't look at what is engraved [when we buy a phone] because it's too much work." The most recent iPod touch gains $10 in value at Nextworth if it is not engraved.
But the biggest threat to the future value of the Moto X might may simply be ... the Moto X.
Although Android handset specs have increasingly taken a back seat to user experience, it's important to note that the Moto X is not a beast on the spec sheet. The screen is less impressive than the Galaxy S4 and the HTC One. Also, it runs a dated dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. In as little as a year, the Moto X could be showing its age much more than similarly priced phones.
Another reason the Moto X might not be a resale value champion? A fickle market.
"Currently, Apple devices hold their value best, with Samsung catching up," says Scarsella. The same cult following that generates enormous amounts of aftermarket accessories for the iPhone and Galaxy lines also keep the resale prices up. And while other handsets from Motorola, like the Droid RAZR MAXX HD and RAZR HD have comparable resale values, the jury's still out on whether Moto's new hero handset can join that club.
Like a tricked out lime green Toyota Supra, a heavily customized Moto X is unlikely to be a great investment -- especially if you ask Motorola to scrawl your name on the back plate. If you want to eventually sell it, keep it vanilla. But if you're happy with your hot pink handset and you'd never let it go anyway, it shouldn't even matter.
