Apple trade-ins open up to Android, BB, Windows phones

Apple Store trade-ins are run in partnership with an external company

Apple stores in North America and parts of Europe are to accept Android, Blackberry and Windows phones from March 30 as trade-ins towards new handsets.

France, Germany, the UK and Italy are also included in the program.

The move is made possible due to an existing agreement with platform-agnostic distributor Brightstar, which as part of its remit, specializes in retail trade-ins.

As 9to5mac notes, store credit can then be applied to purchases of the iPhone 5c, 6 and 6 Plus, to the exclusion of the Apple Watch.

Last week, Apple had announced a buyback program for China, with manufacturer Foxconn to oversee the resale of used handsets, initially through a selection of e-commerce websites and then other physical stores.

A February 2015 IDC report placed Android at 81.5% global market share in 2014 against Apple's 14.8%.

According to Brightstar's iPhone recycling guide, an unlocked, fully functioning and good condition black iPhone 4S would fetch US $35 in store credit.