I know Apple has an official refurb section on there site, but iPhones aren't listed.
Are there any other places selling genuine iPhone refurbs? By that I mean, ideally refurb'ed by Apple or someone who won't put in non-genuine parts.
And a place that gives at least 1 year warranty.
Been very happy with reebelo.co.nz purchases
Will second Mobell. Purchased an iPhone 2020 SE from them.
All functions worked, Touch ID worked and didn't get any non-genuine warnings about the battery.
Adding to the list above - Green Gadgets who I have used a few times for myself and family, and found to be much better than other resellers. However none of the options posted so far are "refurb'ed by apple", aka Apple Certified, as I don't think Apple does this for the New Zealand market.
I'm not super concerned about it being Apple certified, more just a concern that parts in the phone have been replaced with 3rd party parts. I've had pretty bad experience before when someone used a non apple battery and screen and put it in the phone, which performed poorly.
Be aware that it's not uncommon to refurb with non genuine displays. Third party batteries will annoy you with the odd message (can't remeber if it's in settings) but third party displays can be absolute rubbish and there's a nonzero chance that apple just turn them off with a osftware update (again) and make them not work at all, or some part not work (again).
FaceID is the giveaway.
What do you want from a refurb though, realistically there's no real incentive to refurb with genuine parts except maybe with a new battery
Yeah, that's my worry, I've gotten a 2nd hand iPhone in the past which clearly had a non-genuine display (view angles where so bad). And 3rd party batteries are more often than not, not great either. Didn't know about the message though. That's kinda nice (from a buyers perspective)
I was thinking about a refurb iPhone just to get a deal on them, as I've bought other refurbs from Apple in the past (laptops), and they're basically brand new with a discount.
Was looking at getting a iPhone 13 Pro Max, Apple only sells the iPhone 13 new these days, not the Pro or Pro Max.
yeah. there's a warning in settings and a flag now if your screen or battery is. non genuine
They've been able to work around the battery replacement for a long time now. You just transplant the chip from the old battery to the new one and it works/looks exactly like an OEM battery swap. Only cheap repair/battery places won't do this extra step because it requires soldering and extra parts.
@chunder: Ahhh, iirc they do that for faceid too.
Although I think apple genuine replacements are <$200
Anyone know where you can buy genuine apple batteries? Apple charge a very high amount for their battery replacement program and recently put the price up in NZ, Plus you are then without it unless you live near a service centre. The price they charge isn't economic to relace the battery on older iphones. You may as well put the money towards a new phone.
Yeah as far as I'm aware you can't. Basically Apple don't want non-trained people (aka you or me) cracking open their phones. When batteries are replaced by Apple there is a trail that shows who, where, what etc so that warranty can still apply. There is maybe an argument for Apple to allow older phones that are out of warranty for the user to buy and replace themselves. But to make it easier I guess they just have a blanket policy of trained techs only doing all the work on their items.
Maybe there is hope in the future if the European law that requires tech to have "easily replaceable batteries" comes into effect.
Keep an eye on the duct tape workshop on trademe. I snagged a 12 mini for $500 a few months ago when everyone else was selling the equivalent condition for about $650-700, and their only description of it was "small chip in camera lens". I could barely see anything in the image but saw it was a super cheap and easy fix to replace the camera glass element. When it arrived, I couldn't even find the damage but there is, a small chip in the edge of the camera glass. Literally less than a 1mm and not even on a bit of the glass that would be in a picture - and if it was, would have zero impact on the image anyway.
Hmm, cheers. I'll keep an eye on there account.
goodtech.co.nz
dicksmith.co.nz