refurbished phone

I

iamskier

macrumors member
when you go to the apple store to swap a phone they give you a refurbished one right?
so the refurbished iphones from att are the same thing?
 
Think of it as a giant loop.

The iPhone you give back will eventually make its way back out to an Apple store for somebody else's replacement. Once Apple fixes the problem if they see it neccessary.
 
Most of the time, you can't really tell if they are new or not. They look new, but now may be refurbs.
 
No, they're not the same... I wrote something on this a long time ago, let me dig it up... I'll be right back.

EDIT: Okay, here it is https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/677405/. That mostly focuses on AT&T refurbs, so I'll elaborate on Apples "White Box" iPhones. Apple doesn't "refurbish" iPhones per sey.... They do what they call "reserialize" iPhones. To "reserialize" an iPhone they completely disassemble all iPhones returned and toss all damaged parts. They then rebuild iPhones from all of the "like new" parts and some "new" parts and assign this iPhone a new, unique serial number ( beginning with 5K ).

I hope this helps.
 
iamskier said:
when you go to the apple store to swap a phone they give you a refurbished one right?
so the refurbished iphones from att are the same thing?
Click to expand...

Depends. I needed to have my iPhone 3GS swapped due to a screen issue. They swapped a new one from the box, not a refurb. :)

Previously, I have received refurbs for warranty service tho so I think it's within a certain window where you will get a new one as a replacement.
 
bytethese said:
Depends. I needed to have my iPhone 3GS swapped due to a screen issue. They swapped a new one from the box, not a refurb. :)

Previously, I have received refurbs for warranty service tho so I think it's within a certain window where you will get a new one as a replacement.
Click to expand...

There's not a window it depends on availability, if no refurbs are available such as just after launch you will get a new one, this happens until the refurb pipe line fills, which it probably has by now.
 
BullittMustang said:
I received my replacement 3GS by mail today. It is new.
Click to expand...

If you talk to them over the phone, you can sometimes convince them to send you a brand new one.

But, if you go into the Apple store, odds are they're going to just give you a refurbished iPhone from a pretty white (or black) box.

Did you set up an advanced replacement through Apple?

EDIT: The easiest way to tell is if they give you a plastic wrapped iPhone 3GS box and everything, basically how you received it the first time you bought it. Then its brand new, if you ever only receive the iPhone itself, odds are its a refurb.
 
aprofetto said:
If you talk to them over the phone, you can sometimes convince them to send you a brand new one.

But, if you go into the Apple store, odds are they're going to just give you a refurbished iPhone from a pretty white (or black) box.

Did you set up an advanced replacement through Apple?

EDIT: The easiest way to tell is if they give you a plastic wrapped iPhone 3GS box and everything, basically how you received it the first time you bought it. Then its brand new, if you ever only receive the iPhone itself, odds are its a refurb.
Click to expand...

It was shipped from Apple. They said it would be a reburb, but it is definitely new. It comes in a box just like a new one does, but smaller. The package also has another white box inside to put your old iphone in to send back. You get to keep the nice black box the phone comes in. The whole brown box shipping package had labels from China on it. My serial number is also a week 28 which is July.
 
BullittMustang said:
It was shipped from Apple. They said it would be a reburb, but it is definitely new. It comes in a box just like a new one does, but smaller. The package also has another white box inside to put your old iphone in to send back. You get to keep the nice black box the phone comes in. The whole brown box shipping package had labels from China on it. My serial number is also a week 28 which is July.
Click to expand...

Does your serial number start with 5K?

Not to beat on a dead horse, but sometimes refurbs are as good as new, its more the luck of the draw.
 
i bought my iphone new from att but my friend is cheap and wants to buy the refurb. anybody have any experiences?
 
With the first generation iPhones, refurbs always started with a 5K serial number. With the 3G and 3G S, the serials can also start with an 8 so there is no longer any way to tell if the phone is new or refurb. There have been all kinds of posts on this over that last year on the serial numbers.

Refurbs look new because they are given new cases with glass and a new battery.
 
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