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just had my phone replaced, how to check when it was made?
- Thread starter JosephEsquivel
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Hate to burst your bubble, but it was most likely refurbished last week.
Apple fixes iPhones and then sends them back out to replace peoples iPhones who have problems with their iPhone, like one giant loop.
For instance, the iPhone you brought back had an issue. Apple takes your old iPhone, fixes the issue and then Apple sends out your old iPhone in a nice little black box to the Genius Bar in all Apple stores where the next person who has a problem with their iPhone will get your old refurbished iPhone as a replacement.
To be sure, does your serial number start with 5K?
Apple fixes iPhones and then sends them back out to replace peoples iPhones who have problems with their iPhone, like one giant loop.
For instance, the iPhone you brought back had an issue. Apple takes your old iPhone, fixes the issue and then Apple sends out your old iPhone in a nice little black box to the Genius Bar in all Apple stores where the next person who has a problem with their iPhone will get your old refurbished iPhone as a replacement.
To be sure, does your serial number start with 5K?
I don't think you know what your talking about. If you enter the serial number for a replacement phone, it will tell you the factory information which is in CHINA (5K).
Model: MB499/MB501 iPhone 3G 16GB White
Factory: 5K (China)code_to_number: 20G - YM7291XYYL1
Production year: 2009
Production week: 05 (February)
What makes you think its cheaper for Apple to refurb, or just make new ones in one factory, sans the retail box? No one has ever confirmed either way. My "refurb" beats my "retail" iPhone by a mile. So if your purpose was to talk down a replacement iPhone, you didn't impress me at all.
Wrong! Try again. They are new phones, and they get sent back in white boxes!
Source: Worked at apple for 7 months last year.
Right, so the Apple store employee and the Applecare manager both are wrong? Interesting.
How come then, after being through 3 replacement iPhones, I called up being extremely upset and the guy said, "Sir, for your troubles, we're going to send you a brand new iPhone.".
Technically according to you guys, I was getting brand new iPhone all along?
Honestly, if Apple had to keep shipping out brand new iPhones to each person with a problem on the iPhone, they'd go broke. It's common sense. It's how Apple does it so you don't have to send in your phone for 2 weeks while it gets repaired.
Its so naive to think they hand a brand new iPhone to each customer with a problem on their current iPhone.
EDIT: Not to mention all 3 of my replacements came in a black box. Might be different colour depending on country.
Ummm... did I ever talk down a replacement iPhone?
I was simply saying that odds are the OP has a refurb as opposed to a brand new iPhone.
I must admit that, so far, this sounds the most logical and sensible explanation.
I'm willing to bet that apart from 'phones with physical damage, there's not much wrong with the majority that are returned!
You are correct, they are refurbished phones, two very good reasons:
a) It saves a fortune for Apple
b) It means they don't have to keep producing an endless supply of NEW iPhones
Unless of course I am wrong and somewhere in Cupertino there is a 400ft building made of old iPhones...
Source: I have worked in the mobile industry for nearly 5 years and along side Apple for 2
The white-boxed replacement phones they have in BOH can either be new or refurbished. More often than not, at this point into the 3Gs lifecycle, they're refurbished. At the beginning of the lifecycle, they were mostly new. Refurbished iPods/iPhones get a new case with a different serial number, so the customer shouldn't be able to physically tell the difference between it and a new product.
aprofetto said:
And FWIW, the black boxes are only used when AppleCare mails a replacement phone to a customer. Apple Stores receive replacements in nice little white boxes.
Unless I'm colour-blind, they all came out of black boxes.
EDIT: And for your information, they don't all start with 5K.
Maybe the Apple Stores in Canada do something differently, but in the US, at the Genius Bar, all replacement iPods and iPhones come out of white boxes with a gazillion barcodes on them (for inventory reasons). Replacement iPhones that AppleCare overnights to customers at home come in pretty black boxes.
Cool. I haven't been able to find any links saying what the other ones start with. Care to share your links?
my iphone starts with 88827Y***** , 11 digits in total.. model MB632C... its a 16gig white, i got in july 2008.
you've been through 3 iphone replacements? how often did you have to get it replaced?
That's cool. You also have a different model number, too. Wonder if it's because your phone was made for Rogers in Canada?
yup, its an iphone from rogers. i would have thought the model numbers wouldnt vary much.. maybe they do for different countries?
Yeah, I just looked at mine (white 16GB US model, from launch day), and it starts with 888 also. I guess I picked up the 5K from the threads. Still doesn't seem like anyone's come up with a way to spot a refurb from new via the serial number.
I don't think theres a bullet proof way to tell the difference via serial numbers, but I think 5K means theres a good chance its a refurb.
I've had 4 iPhones total, 2 of which were given as replacements form the Apple store. The 2 replacements started with 5K, and the 2 others, which were guaranteed brand new since I unwrapped the boxes myself started with an 8.
I do remember reading an article saying Apple uses 5K for non-refurbished iPhones also. But at the end of the day, I wouldn't feel confident I had a brand new iPhone with serial starting with 5K unless I got it brand new from the store or online in an iPhone 3G box.
I've had 4 iPhones total, 2 of which were given as replacements form the Apple store. The 2 replacements started with 5K, and the 2 others, which were guaranteed brand new since I unwrapped the boxes myself started with an 8.
I do remember reading an article saying Apple uses 5K for non-refurbished iPhones also. But at the end of the day, I wouldn't feel confident I had a brand new iPhone with serial starting with 5K unless I got it brand new from the store or online in an iPhone 3G box.
I've been through a number of replacements as well (lost count). They're pretty much all refurbs but pretty much always work as well as my original one. The only time I could tell that it wasn't new was when I found a different user signed into iTunes when I opened it up--which was very strange considering it should have been restored; but nonetheless, obviously Apple is not giving out brand new iPhones to every John and Jane Doe who comes to the desk with a problem--it just makes sense environmentally, financially, everythingly to give refurbs.
Yeah. They started off white (in Canada, at least) and moved over to nicer black boxes shortly thereafter.
I assume people were bitching about getting refurbs, so Apple switched to nicer, 'new product' style boxes.
They had me fooled at first, lol. Then I asked the Apple store 'genius' and he said they're usually refurbs.
Do you mind saying how many and why?! Not a good recommendation for the iPhone I would have thought!