Apple may have a clever new plan to boost iPhone sales in stores

Apple is reportedly developing a new program in its retail stores that would allow you to trade in your non-Apple phone for a gift card to be used toward the purchase of a new iPhone, according to 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman.

It would work similarly to the way you trade in an iPhone normally - Apple would determine the value of the phone based on what condition it's in and a variety of other factors.

Training for Apple Store employees is said to start this week, and the program will reportedly launch within the coming weeks.

Apple will transfer all contacts from your phone to your new iPhone, but other data will be lost unless a user backs it up or transfers it manually, Gurman reports.

It sounds like a brilliant move on Apple's part: Not only is the company converting Android users to the iPhone, but it'll also able to sell those used Android, Windows, or BlackBerry phones.

The program would also give buyers more incentive to purchase an iPhone from Apple's store rather than a carrier retail location or a Best Buy. In 2013, Gurman also reported that Cook had expressed dissatisfaction with the number of iPhones sold in-store compared to Macs and iPads, and this new initiative could be a move to change that.