Does that flagship phone not have tax as well?
Sure but used phones are used, with used batteries, and do not come with a year warranty or access to AC+.
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Apple Restocks Refurbished iPhone 12 Pro Starting at $759
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So my reason for upgrading every year is that I stay with the same provider, been with TMo since iPhone 6. Each year I buy the cheapest “iPhone on us” promo phone, last year was the xr, cost me $150. I get my bill credits, then when the next gen comes out, I pay off the remaining $400, sell my 13 pro for $600, buy the next cheap phone, get my bill credits and keep it moving. Right now, my bill for home internet, 4 cellular watches and 2 iPhone 13, 2 13 pros, is $-8/month. It will flex up when the 14. Ones out for a couple of months waiting on the bill credits to kick in but I’ll quickly begin my road of negative phone bills.
That’s 15% off an already $100 discount.
15% off a device that is 2 years old, and about to be 2 iPhone generations behind is not a good deal.
So it’s actually 22.7% off a two year old device… with a new screen, new battery, and Apple making sure it’s functionally new.
Now. I would be interested to hear why refurbished phones are not as good as new with personal experiences.
I just bought a used phone…. The soft glass of the screens these days make them scratch magnets.
My mini especially gets dings and scratches from nothing and it’s pretty marked up.
Do not buy a used mini if you care about screen quality.
It’s one year warranty, not 90 day.
I just bought a 11 pro used and it’s in the Apple store getting a new battery.
The 11 pros curves are fantastic holding the phone. And swiping without catching the edge of the squared 12/13 is really really nice.
Yeah I still have my X and while I already replaced the battery, its still not great.
But I can buy a midrange Android and have plenty of speed, a huge fast OLED screen, and a decent camera for around $350.
So it makes dropping $1k on a phone these days even harder. I really look for prices to come down because phone improvements are really slowing down year over year.
This is true, almost no one cares. Buy the phone if you like it and want to use it, but don’t buy it to impress other people.
Given the rumours are they’re going to be using the same chip in as the 13 I suspect they will kill the iPhone 13 and the 14 will take its place.
They may still keep selling the mini but I doubt it. I suspect they’ll might have a new mini SE early next year… maybe. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if the SE because like the old XR
As for the price of phones. I used to think the same. Then I realised. Which one do you use more? Take with you everywhere and store most of your life on…
I usually alternate between new/used. I've had a pretty good string of luck and am picky buying used too. My XR from eBay was pretty flawless, I usually look for something that still has Apple warranty left. Designwise, the iPhone is pretty but from a function perspective the front and back are glass. I always use a case and glass screen protector, it's cheaper than insurance and I've never broken a phone screen or back, yet.
Also too with a grade B cosmetically phone, if you get a few scratches and dings it doesn't sting as much if you had a new pristine looking phone so there is that.
It's just weird growing up with iPhones and going back to the days of subsidized phones, it was $600-$800 max if you destroyed your phone and bought one out of pocket. Now they have this range from $500-$1100 which just sounds wild. $1000 for a computer feels normal historically, but a phone used to be like a $600 max cost.
It's also why I don't have a problem buying used, phones just depreciate to nothing anyway now. From my 6S experience too, the electronics wear out and start chewing through battery life in about 4 years so eventually you have to get a new one. This sounds like a plausible explanation of the throttling issues that have plagued users, it sounds unavoidable so you are stuck upgrading.
Plus I'm just cheap too, so there is that.
Maybe I've been lucky but I've never had a problem with Apple refurbished. The only issue I've ever had was Series 1 watch that started eating battery when it couldn't find a sensor, and my old 6s that after 4+ years was going into a death spiral. They changed the battery and when it really died a month later it was under batter replacement warranty and they gave me a new one, and that phone had a display that went out just after the standard warranty.
Considering all the phones, computers, iPads, and watches over the years, these are the only failures I've ever had.
ha! I can feel that..
I've been sort of "lucky" in that I dramatically prefer the smallest iPhone I can get (SE1) and I've assembled a collection now, having never paid more than $60-80 for any of them in the last couple years.
I'm not against paying up to about $500 for a new small phone again at some point, but I just refuse to go above that.
I’ll strongly consider refurbished in the future, since I still have a problem with spending $1099 on a smartphone. Especially since getting a good laptop is possible at that price.
Maybe it’s just a mental thing, and maybe I’ll get there one day, but I feel pretty good about getting an almost three year old 11pro for about half price. It’s used. Screen is a little scuffed, new battery from Apple store.
The 12 and 13 pro (and looking like the 14 pro) I’m not excited about the shape and gigantic camera, so maybe when the 11pro is long in the tooth I’ll consider a refurbished 14pro or 13pro. Since the promotion is pretty nice.
Looking back though, I should have been more decisive and spent the extra ~$200 for a refurbished from Apple when the 11pros were in the store. (The 512 stuck around for a few weeks and the 64gb and 256gb disappeared in maybe a week or two. I think the 512gb at $919 for an almost three year old chip and camera system was a bit hard to stomach, since a new 256gb 13pro is $1099.)
Haha can relate to being cheap. I think it is partly because Apple knew phones had become the centre point of our life and we would spend more on them. We already did for a laptop that wasn’t the centre point.
I get what you mean though. When you look back at tech it’s usually always crazy expensive like the old Mac’s at release and has slowly come down. While phones keep going up.
You have to adjust a bit for inflation and factor in that early iPhone prices required 2 year AT&T contracts which lowered the purchase price. After factoring all of that in, early iPhones could get pricey for what they were. Today, a new AT&T customer can get $250 in bill credits over two years (essentially a 2 year contract) which bring the price of a $1,000 iPhone down to $750. Some trade-in deals can be even better.
Today's iPhone prices actually aren't too bad when you consider the various improvements. A 256GB iPhone X at launch in 2017 was $1,149. The 256GB iPhone 13 is $220 less at $929.
I also have a 12 pro max the only phones that will force me to upgrade will be the iPhone 16 pro max if the rumours hold up.
Also the Pill design is not enticing me to empty my wallet
Is it really a good deal? A 2 year old refurbished phone for 100 bucks savings? In my opinion just get the 13.
Supposed the reality is we don't have it in the budget? last I checked, a iPhone 13 Pro is 999, more like a $249 saving.
I was doing the math from the original sale price of the 12. I don't see the value in the small savings, especially for someone keeping the phone for it's useful life of 3 or maybe 4 years.
Get you. I do understand it tbh. Though I would say being on the latest generation carries more prestige than it being a pro. So 13 would be more prestigious than a 12 pro. There is something about having the latest model
Oh, I forgot, that's the only actual real country in the world
