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Can i still get a new 4S?

Kariya

Kariya

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 3, 2010
1,820
10
I may be crazy but i'm feeling serious nostalgia towards the 4S. I regret selling mine to upgrade to the 5. It was hands down the best iPhone i'd ever owned but i caught up in having the bigger screen/batman-style black/slate design of the 5.

Now i want to see if i can still get a 4S new or at least refurb new, to have as secondary device but mostly just to keep as a sentimental item. To me the 4/4S are the best iPhone designs from Apple to date.

Is ebay my best bet or are there other places i should look it?
 
Kariya said:
I may be crazy but i'm feeling serious nostalgia towards the 4S. I regret selling mine to upgrade to the 5. It was hands down the best iPhone i'd ever owned but i caught up in having the bigger screen/batman-style black/slate design of the 5.

Now i want to see if i can still get a 4S new or at least refurb new, to have as secondary device but mostly just to keep as a sentimental item. To me the 4/4S are the best iPhone designs from Apple to date.

Is ebay my best bet or are there other places i should look it?
Click to expand...

You should not buy one simply because it would run iOS 8 and would be awfully slow...

But if you insist, if it's sold by Apple, it's new.
 
Kariya said:
Not even sure i'd take it beyond iOS 6 if thats what it came with.
Click to expand...

It came with iOS 5 pre-installed back in the day but its sure to have iOS 8 installed if you bought it new today. Even if they were manufactured before iOS 8 was finished.
 
Kariya said:
I may be crazy but i'm feeling serious nostalgia towards the 4S. I regret selling mine to upgrade to the 5. It was hands down the best iPhone i'd ever owned but i caught up in having the bigger screen/batman-style black/slate design of the 5.

Now i want to see if i can still get a 4S new or at least refurb new, to have as secondary device but mostly just to keep as a sentimental item. To me the 4/4S are the best iPhone designs from Apple to date.

Is ebay my best bet or are there other places i should look it?
Click to expand...

Cowboom (Best Buy) is still selling and auctioning off new 4S iPhones. I ordered an AT&T one from them (for the same reason - just to have) a couple weeks ago in their deal-of-the-day for $199. It came with iOS 6. Unfortunately, it had a defective home button and had to be returned.

Here's a Verizon one they have in auction currently going for $188, now. Just search for iPhone 4S.
http://www.cowboom.com/auction/1546943/
 
Applejuiced said:
You can still buy an Atari.
But why would you?
Click to expand...

Because ancient technology is fun and cool? Because nostalgia?
My girlfriend has been on a retro gaming kick this last month, She bough 3 neo geo pocket consoles, a gameboy color, and a high quality sony CRT monitor to play emulated games on. Just because something is old doesn't mean to doesn't have value to some people.
 
With how mine (what I'm using currently until I decide what the hell to upgrade to) runs trust me when I say you don't want one. Even on ios 7 it's pretty terrible, I can't imagine what it would be like on ios 8.

But, to answer your question, I do recall looking for a 4s a while back new at carrier stores and not finding anything so I don't think you can get it new, you would have to get a refurb or used phone I'm sure.
 
Kariya said:
I may be crazy but i'm feeling serious nostalgia towards the 4S. I regret selling mine to upgrade to the 5. It was hands down the best iPhone i'd ever owned but i caught up in having the bigger screen/batman-style black/slate design of the 5.

Now i want to see if i can still get a 4S new or at least refurb new, to have as secondary device but mostly just to keep as a sentimental item. To me the 4/4S are the best iPhone designs from Apple to date.

Is ebay my best bet or are there other places i should look it?
Click to expand...

Today I just returned my iPhone 6+ and bought a 64gb iPhone 4s for 179 on eBay that has lived in a lifeproof case all its life so it looks new. A new battery with tools is only $9 shipped. I'm really looking forward to having a "normal" sized phone again. And you can still downgrade to iOS 7....
 
I cant blame anyone for wanting to hold onto a 4S if they can. I used to have a 4S I ran iOS 7 on before I switched to a Windows Phone. Now Im back on an iPhone, but it's a 5C. And for anyone wondering, no WP didn't suck, I love it actually. But for other various reasons Im back with iPhone. Hope you find the 4S!
 
I don't understand why some peoples 4s are slow and laggy on ios 7 when mine is super fast, no lags, no crashes. I would not update to ios 8 tho.
 
afsnyder said:
It came with iOS 5 pre-installed back in the day but its sure to have iOS 8 installed if you bought it new today. Even if they were manufactured before iOS 8 was finished.
Click to expand...

That is not so. I dubt it will have ios8 installed, it would have what ever ios was available when it was made and that would be a while ago. Aplle does not update its phone to the latest iOS after it is manufactured.
 
I loved my 4 and I know the 4S was a decent bump so I get it. That said I'm sitting here with my 6 having not had anything else since the 4 so the jump is huge.
 
As someone who has here a, 4s, 5s, and 6. The 4s isn't any great shakes. Each to their own, I suppose.
 
afsnyder said:
You should not buy one simply because it would run iOS 8 and would be awfully slow...

But if you insist, if it's sold by Apple, it's new.
Click to expand...

My 4s runs 8.0.2 okay it just lacks RAM... but if you do not use a lot of apps at the same time it's actually pretty okay.
 
DoNoHarm said:
Today I just returned my iPhone 6+ and bought a 64gb iPhone 4s for 179 on eBay that has lived in a lifeproof case all its life so it looks new. A new battery with tools is only $9 shipped. I'm really looking forward to having a "normal" sized phone again. And you can still downgrade to iOS 7....
Click to expand...

No, you can't. Apple has stopped signing iOS 7
 
Newtons Apple said:
That is not so. I dubt it will have ios8 installed, it would have what ever ios was available when it was made and that would be a while ago. Aplle does not update its phone to the latest iOS after it is manufactured.
Click to expand...

Update to iOS 8 has been automatically downloaded on my old 4S and annoying "1" shows on settings. I use it as iPod and have no intention to install it. It seems pretty good phone and I plan to keep it.
 
serega said:
Update to iOS 8 has been automatically downloaded on my old 4S and annoying "1" shows on settings. I use it as iPod and have no intention to install it. It seems pretty good phone and I plan to keep it.
Click to expand...

We are in agreement. My point is that even if the OP found a new and unopened 4S from Apple, it would not already be updated.
 
Newtons Apple said:
That is not so. I dubt it will have ios8 installed, it would have what ever ios was available when it was made and that would be a while ago. Aplle does not update its phone to the latest iOS after it is manufactured.
Click to expand...

Well, they still manufacture new 4s so you never know... Actually, I just checked Apple's website and it looks like you can't buy a new iPhone 4s... hmm maybe that was last year that they kept it around.
 
infcabbage said:
Because ancient technology is fun and cool? Because nostalgia?
My girlfriend has been on a retro gaming kick this last month, She bough 3 neo geo pocket consoles, a gameboy color, and a high quality sony CRT monitor to play emulated games on. Just because something is old doesn't mean to doesn't have value to some people.
Click to expand...

This is not an old gaming console though.
Its just an old phone with limited hardware and software capabilities.
Doing your every day computing on a windows 3.1 machine will get old after a few days.

----------
DoNoHarm said:
I'm really looking forward to having a "normal" sized phone again. And you can still downgrade to iOS 7....
Click to expand...

That is false.
You cannot downgrade a 4S to older firmware at all. Not possible.
You can only update but never downgrade it.
 
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