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saintforlife

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 25, 2011
1,046
329
Let's say you are buying an iPhone 4S from somebody on Craigslist. How can you tell the difference between the 4S and an iPhone 4?
 
4S will have 4 black bands total AND a sim card slot.

4 will have 3 bands and sim card slot or 4 bands no sim card slot
 
Count the antenna breaks a look for a SIM card slot. An iPhone 4S has four breaks and a SIM slot. A CDMA iPhone 4 has four breaks, but no SIM slot. A GSM iPhone 4 has three breaks and a SIM card slot.
 
is it a verizon or at&t iphone? the at&t has 3 breaks in the band around the side, the 4s has 4. The verizon iphone 4 has 4 breaks also but it doesnt have the global icons on the lower half of the back
 
The verizon iphone 4 doesnt have the break there

Good point.

The existence of that CDMA iPhone 4 ruins all the visual methods mentioned here, now that I think about it. (Or, at the very least, makes it very, very confusing. Even if there is a way to tell it now turns into a maze-like "if this and that and this" kind of thing. Best to not get into something like that.)

OP - You have to fire up the software and look in the 'about' section to really be sure. EDIT: And, yikes, even then it doesn't say by name. Does anyone know how to interpret the 'model number' code listed in there?
 
Or look at the model number printed on the back.

Since the OP is trying to avoid getting scammed, I don't see that checking the most-easily replaced part of the phone helps all that much.

I know we've gone past the 'sane and simple' methods to the 'insanely specific' methods, but I assume that's why someone would come ask Macruomors posters in the first place!
 
Here's a suggestion. The seller should have the original box. If not, you run a higher risk of the phone being stolen. The IMEI/ESN on the box should match that in the phone settings.
 
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