Chen Yin was the first son of his father Chen Shubao, who was crown prince under Chen Yin's grandfather Emperor Xuan at the time of Chen Yin's birth. Chen Yin's mother Consort Sun died in childbirth, and Chen Shubao's wife Crown Princess Shen Wuhua, mournful of her death, took Chen Yin and raised him as her own son. As Chen Shubao was already 20 at the time of Chen Yin's birth—a relatively late age to have a son in those times—Emperor Xuan had Chen Shubao designate Chen Yin as his heir even though Chen Yin was not born of Crown Princess Shen, and further awarded a bowl of wine to each father in the realm. In 578, he was created the Duke of Yongkang.

In 582, Emperor Xuan died, and Chen Shubao, after surviving a coup attempt, became emperor. He created Chen Yin's adoptive mother Crown Princess Shen empress and Chen Yin crown prince. Chen Shubao selected the daughter of the general Xiao Mohe to be Chen Yin's wife and crown princess.

Chen Yin was said to be intelligent and studious, but also often making mistakes. When his chief of staff Yuan Xian (袁憲) urged him to change his ways, he would not accept Yuan's suggestion. Meanwhile, Empress Shen was not favored by Chen Shubao, whose favorite concubines were Consort Zhang Lihua and Consort Kong. As Empress Shen and Chen Yin often exchanged messengers, Chen Shubao suspected that Chen Yin despised him for not favoring Empress Shen. Consorts Zhang and Kong, assisted by the high-level official Kong Fan (孔範, who, although he was not related to Consort Kong, referred to her as his sister), began to make accusations against Chen Yin before Chen Shubao. In 588, Chen Shubao thus decided to depose Chen Yin and make Consort Zhang's son Chen Yuan the Prince of Shi'an crown prince, despite Yuan's opposition. In summer 588, he deposed Chen Yin and demoted him to the title of Prince of Wuxing, creating Chen Yuan crown prince instead. Chen Shubao then considered deposing Empress Shen as well and replacing her with Consort Zhang, but as rival Sui Dynasty captured the Chen capital Jiankang in 589, ending Chen and unifying China, that did not occur.

Chen Shubao was taken to the Sui capital Chang'an and treated as an honored guest of Emperor Wen of Sui, and Chen Yin followed his father to Chang'an. He died there, but there is no historical record of the year of his death. Unlike many of his brothers, there was also no record that he served as an official to Sui, so he probably died fairly early.

陳胤於太建五年（573年）二月乙丑於東宮出生。孫氏是陳叔寶少年時侍妾，她既無沈皇后高貴的出身，又無張貴妃百伶百俐的心計，因此不被重視，在生產陳胤難產而死，嫡母沈婺華心生憐憫，收養陳胤。陳宣帝就將陳叔寶這第一個兒子當成嫡出看待，下詔曰：「皇孫初誕，國祚方熙，思與群臣，共同斯慶，內外文武賜帛各有差，為父後者賜爵一級。」太建十年（578年），被封為永康公。陳後主即位，立為皇太子，並選蕭摩訶女為太子妃。

陳胤酷好讀書，曾躬出太學講《孝經》，講畢又釋奠于先聖先師，設金石之樂于太學，王公卿士及太學生並預宴。陳後主對其道學氣很不耐煩，沈婺華美麗聰明，但生性淡泊，與丈夫個性不合，加上嫡母庶子間往來十分密切，陳後主更加反感。張麗華則與最受寵的孔貴嬪兄妹時常數說太子的不是，張麗華操縱朝臣上書，使禎明二年（588年）陳後主廢庶長子陳胤，立了張麗華的大兒子陳淵為太子。但仍封陳胤為吳興王，加侍中、中衛將軍，妥善安置，岑德潤為其記室。曾師事賀德仁。

禎明三年（589年），陳朝滅亡後，陳胤隨陳朝皇族其他成員一起入隋，在長安去世。