It is quite natural that when planning to buy an iPhone for ourselves or as a gift, we are looking for the most favorable offer. The current state of the market has made this much more difficult. Many people still can’t wrap their head around the fact that the two-year-old iPhone 5s model costs 35 thousand rubles. I paid the same amount for this smartphone 2 years ago, when it was the best smartphone from Apple. Finding a good deal may lead you to buy a refurbished iPhone, and if you're considering it, you'll want to be very careful.
It doesn't cost anything to find a refurbished iPhone in a store in your city. They are sold in large chains and official reseller stores. You will find a huge number of advertisements on Avito. Even Yandex Market, a platform where the placement of used goods is prohibited, is filled with offers of refurbished iPhones. And there would be nothing wrong with buying such a smartphone if they were all restored by Apple, but this is not the case. There are much lesser-known organizations that willingly restore and sell iPhones. Their products are not at all what you expect to buy.
The main difference between official refurbished iPhones and those that can be ordered from China lies in the components. A refurbished iPhone is a smartphone with a new body, a new screen, a new battery and other components, and only Apple uses original components. A smartphone restored in China is a board, wrapped in an inexpensive non-original case, and covered with the same non-original display.
Another important difference lies in responsibility. If Apple cannot lose face and sell you a large number of defective devices, a master from China, instead of checking the quality of his work, would rather assemble two more such iPhones in the same time. Now I will tell you about all this in a little more detail, and you will learn what you should first pay attention to when buying.
Where are you going to buy an iPhone?
Do you want to buy an iPhone and the price seems tempting to you? Who is offering you this price? Most likely, in the stores of the Svyaznoy, M.Video chains or from one of the official Apple resellers, you will buy either a completely new iPhone or an official refurbished iPhone. The price tag may include the words “like new,” designed specifically to avoid scaring buyers with the word “refurbished,” or, worse, the phrase “used.” In other words, you can trust large retail chains. They, like Apple, will try not to lose face.
If you are planning to buy an iPhone in a hardware store, a consignment store, or if you just found an iPhone at a good price on Avito, you should be extremely careful. They may not just sell you an iPhone refurbished in China, which will come in a neatly sealed box. Some sellers may simply not mention that it is refurbished and sell it as new. We'll talk about refurbished iPhones and unofficial refurbished iPhones below.
Package
Official refurbished iPhones are sold in white boxes without a picture of the smartphone. All they have is the name of the device model, for example “iPhone 5s”, and the inscription “Apple Certified Pre-Owned”, confirming the fact that the device inside is not a new one, refurbished by Apple.
Unofficial refurbished iPhones are also sold in sealed boxes, and these boxes are an exact replica of the packaging of the new iPhone. You will not find any information on the packaging that the device is refurbished. Experienced store workers will be able to understand that the packaging is not original due to the quality of the paint and fonts, but even the serial number of the device will most likely match what is printed on the packaging. Skilled craftsmen spare no time and effort for this.
In the box with your new iPhone and official refurbished iPhone you will find the original headphones, charger and charging cable. We all know how well EarPods play, and how long the original charger can last with careful use.
When you open a box of a refurbished iPhone from China, you'll see everything the same, but it just looks the same. The kit includes the cheapest copy of the headphones, and exactly the same non-original charger. From my experience, I can say that more than half of the included chargers do not work, and the rest fail within the first two weeks, or simply fall apart in your hands the first time you try to use them. You will, of course, receive a key for removing the SIM card, which is by no means made of “liquid metal,” but you most likely will not get stickers with apples.
Appearance of the device
As I wrote above, to restore an iPhone, Apple uses only original components, which means that neither in appearance, nor in feel, nor in any other way does an official restored iPhone differ from a brand new one. It really is “like new”. Have you bought this smartphone? Enjoy it and know that it was a good purchase.
With unofficial refurbished iPhones, things are much worse. Out of the box you will get a smartphone that is assembled from non-original spare parts. Even though the IMEI of the device is carefully engraved on the case, an experienced store or service center worker will be able to distinguish a non-original case by touch and with his eyes closed. It is much more difficult for a less experienced user, and he may not suspect anything, although in fact, even the font in which the word “iPhone” is written on the back of the device is different.
The non-original case is perfectly complemented by a non-original screen. The front camera may be displaced, the holes for sensors on the glass may be very noticeable in purple, and of course, no one promises you original brightness and color rendition. Also pay attention to the connectors and bolts. All this is assembled in China, and developed there, and not at all in California. Since low quality spare parts are used, they are more susceptible to wear. The paint on the body will quickly peel off, and the glass will become stained and scratched; it has completely different qualities compared to the original one.
But the worst thing lies inside
I admire the skills of Chinese phone repairers. The speed at which they work is reminiscent of experienced chefs who prepare shawarma from morning to evening. Unfortunately, in the first case, their haste comes at the expense of quality. It seems that it is really faster and easier for a technician to replace all the components in a smartphone than to figure out which one is not working. And as I wrote above, instead of checking his work, the technician would rather restore a couple more iPhones. This makes it really scary to look inside unofficial refurbished iPhones.
I saw amazing pictures. When you disassemble an iPhone that looks brand new from the outside, you don't expect to see a circuit board whose components are hidden under a layer of rust. It's good if they are all in place. An unofficial refurbished iPhone may contain significantly fewer parts than originally intended.
Unfortunately, these are not fairy tales. Even if everything works in such a smartphone now, most likely it won’t last long. Serious illnesses can appear from a simple shake, and something in a smartphone can fail, such as Wi-Fi or a modem. The build quality also matters. The battery can peel off from the case and dangle inside, and this is the most harmless thing that can happen.
In other words, an unofficial refurbished iPhone is full of surprises, and it's not something you want to surprise yourself or your loved ones with. The number of defects among such iPhones is huge. Perhaps many of them break on the way to the display case, while others were never in good working order. Let me briefly add that you will not see anything like this in an official refurbished iPhone.
Prices
What’s most interesting is that prices for official refurbished iPhones and bad smartphones from China may differ quite a bit, or not differ at all. They will be cheaper than new devices, which is what attracts them. Remember that if you suddenly find an iPhone much cheaper than in all stores, most likely it is refurbished. If miracles do happen, it’s definitely not in a store where the iPhone 5s costs less than 27 thousand rubles. Also be aware of dishonest sellers who may sell you a refurbished iPhone under the guise of a new one.
Important Details
There are a few more details to keep in mind. Remember that the iPhone 4s came out in 2011. In 2012, after the release of the iPhone 5, last year's model became available only with 8 gigabytes of memory. In 2013, when the iPhone 5s and iPhone appeared, the iPhone 5 was simply discontinued. Remember this when you are offered to buy the “new” iPhone 4s 16GB and iPhone 5. These smartphones have not been produced for 2-3 years, they cannot be new. Also, when purchasing a refurbished iPhone 5s, you must remember that only the A1457 and A1530 models in Russia will have LTE. Most unofficial refurbished iPhone 5s do not support our 4G frequencies.
I hope this material will be useful to you and help you make a successful purchase or avoid mistakes. Remember that iPhone is designed to make our lives easier. Be careful, and then you will be able to do without unnecessary difficulties.
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