Why Microsoft’s Smart Exchange Offer is Unattractive

Microsoft just introduced an exchange offer for existing Nokia Asha users in which they are  being offered some discounts when they trade their Asha phone for a Lumia 435. However, the offer which goes by the name of ‘Smart Exchange Offer’ that Microsoft is playing to pull some of the existing Asha users to the Lumia kingdom does seem gimmicky and unwanted. The offer barely gives any value for the Asha phones which are being traded. Considering that the Asha users are already pretty price conscious, Microsoft does not seem to be playing fair.

The smart exchange offers the following discounts to the buyers of Lumia 435 (on the MRP value) when they trade in their existing Nokia Asha smartphones:

Asha 500, Asha 501, Asha 502 or Asha 503 –  ₹1500
Asha 305, Asha 306, Asha 308, Asha 309, Asha 310 or Asha 311 – ₹1000

A brand new Lumia 435 is presently selling online on multiple stores for ~₹5300, but the exchange offer gives a discount on the MRP which is set at ₹5999. This means that at least ₹700 out of the trade-in discount isn’t actually being offered because the phone can be bought cheaper elsewhere. Making this adjustment to the exchange discount brings us to the actual value of discount being offered:

Asha 500, Asha 501, Asha 502 or Asha 503 –  800
Asha 305, Asha 306, Asha 308, Asha 309, Asha 310 or Asha 311 – ₹300

An exchange price of ₹300 for an old Asha 311 or ₹800 for an old Asha 503 does not seem good enough, or does it? The offer might still make sense if you’re trading in one of the super low-priced Asha devices such as the Asha 500 which you’ve owned for long, but if you just purchased an Asha or if own one of the expensive ones, I don’t see any point of taking this offer and trading in the old Asha phone for pennies. If ever Microsoft decided to offer the trade-in discounts over and above any other existing discounts, it’d have been an offer not worth missing.

Advice: Better Sell your Asha Phone Directly or Just keep it

Lumia 435 isn’t a bad choice, but trading an old Asha phone at the prices offered doesn’t seem like a good choice. So, all I can say is that you should definitely buy a Lumia 435 as it offers a better smartphone functionality compared to the Asha phones, but don’t just trade in your Asha for that.

You can simply sell the Asha phone to a local shop or somebody known and you’ll surely get a better price that what Microsoft is offering. Sure, it is a bit of hassle finding a buyer for your old phone and if you can’t do it, go ahead and let Microsoft handle your phone.

You might also want to keep your existing Asha phone for use in the family or as your backup/secondary phone.