Where to get a refurbished iPhone?

[MikeFromMesa]

My wife has an iPhone 8 Plus with 64GB of memory and has essentially run out of space on it. I offered to buy her a new iPhone 12 but she likes the Home button and does not want to lose it, so I have been looking for a refurbished iPhone 8 Plus with more than 64GB of storage.

The first place I looked, of course, was Apple, and while they have refurbished iPhone 8 Plus phones all of the ones for sale have 64GB of memory and so are of no use in fixing her issue. Given that I started looking for where else I could buy an iPhone 8 Plus with 256GB of memory (I don't think they made a 128GB version, but perhaps that is wrong).

I checked with BestBuy but after spending 20 minutes on the chat line with the sales guy I realized that that was probably not the best option. The sales guy knew nothing about iPhones and I was first told that it came with an Apple warranty and then that it did not, so the conversation was not encouraging. On top of that I never really found out about the warranty options for a refurbished iPhone from them.

Of course I checked with Amazon but the customer reviews, which I put some faith in, were also not encouraging. 10% of the buyers gave the phone 1 star and that seems pretty bad to me considering that every iPhone I have ever had has worked perfectly from the day of purchase.

So, given that, can anyone recommend a good place to buy a refurbished iPhone 8 Plus? Preferably an unlocked one?

 

[chscag]

Hi Mike:

Long time since we have heard from you. Glad you remembered us.

Instead of buying your wife a refurbished iPhone 8, why not consider instead buying a iPhone SE 2020 model with 128 GB of storage? It has a home button, is the same size as the 8 and the 128GB model is only $449.00. Plus it has much better memory and speed.

Something to consider.

 

[MikeFromMesa]

Hi Mike:

Long time since we have heard from you. Glad you remembered us.

Instead of buying your wife a refurbished iPhone 8, why not consider instead buying a iPhone SE 2020 model with 128 GB of storage? It has a home button, is the same size as the 8 and the 128GB model is only $449.00. Plus it has much better memory and speed.

Something to consider.

Yes, I have been off of all forums for some time now as we have been traveling and there has been quite a bit going on. What is it they say about "interesting times"?

As for the SE, I did buy one of those for my step-son as he also wanted something with the Home button and did not care about the smaller screen size compared to the other new iPhones, but my wife has gotten used to the size of the 8 Plus and I don't think she would care for the smaller screen size. Still, it is worth checking with her, so thank you for the suggestion. It is something I had not considered.

 

[pigoo3]

Thread moved to better area (iPhone Hardware)...originally posted in "General".

Thanks,

Nick

 

[IWT]

Hi Mike

This may not suit your wife but it is possible to create a digital Home Button which can be moved around any screen and pressing on it does the same as a real/hard button.

See here:

How to get a Home button on the iPhone

Ian

 

[MikeFromMesa]

This may not suit your wife but it is possible to create a digital Home Button which can be moved around any screen and pressing on it does the same as a real/hard button.

Thank you for the response.

I do have that soft button on my iPhone 12 and it does some of the same things as the physical Home button, so perhaps I should mention it to my wife. The one thing it does not do is open the phone when it is locked as the physical Home button does because it is not visible, and at least on my iPhone 12 it does not always work properly when it is visible.

One tap is supposed to open the Home screen and 2 taps are supposed to display the active screens but often I find that 2 taps works the same as one tap and I have to do it several times to get it to work properly.

 

[IWT]

You are right. It doesn’t open the iPhone, understandably

But in all other aspects, it does. It was only a thought.

Talking about taps, did you know that you can programme the iPhone to respond in various ways if you tap the underside of the iPhone twice and/or thrice? Can be quite useful.

Ian

 

[chscag]

I do have that soft button on my iPhone 12 and it does some of the same things as the physical Home button, so perhaps I should mention it to my wife. The one thing it does not do is open the phone when it is locked as the physical Home button does because it is not visible, and at least on my iPhone 12 it does not always work properly when it is visible.

Have to agree with you about that. I have an iPhone 12 Mini and tried using the digital home button without much success. I've gotten used to not having a home button on my iPhone 12 but still wish Apple had not done away with it. My wife has no problem with swiping up on her iPhone 11 and says she doesn't miss the home button.

As I replied to you above, if your wife can get used to the smaller size of the 2020 SE, that might be best.

I personally do not recommend buying a refurbished iPhone from any supplier other than Apple. I have in the past purchased a new iPhone from Amazon and had no problem with it.

 

[lclev]

Hey thanks Ian! I learned something - and I like the digital home button!

Lisa

 

[IWT]

Hey thanks Ian! I learned something - and I like the digital home button!

Lisa

So that’s two of us, Lisa The other being my wife!

Ian

 

[MikeFromMesa]

One of the things that has puzzled me is why no one seems able to increase the memory size in an iPhone. Apple says they can not do it, but I would have assumed that the memory in the iPhone is nothing but a bunch of chips and why could the old 64GB chips be removed and replaced by larger memory chips? The chips are the same physical size.

Before I retired I worked as a system engineer/architect and one of the companies I worked for sold hardware with specific external drive sizes and customers could upgrade their memory by paying more. The customers finally realized that the company was selling the same size physical drive to all customers and only using a software limit on the disk memory available to them. Call in and pay more and we will reset the memory limit ...

I sometimes wonder if that is what Apple might end up doing with the iPhones.

 

[ferrarr]

At the time of purchase, the phones are offered with different storage sizes.

 

[MikeFromMesa]

At the time of purchase, the phones are offered with different storage sizes.

Well, yes. Of course that is true. But it does not answer my question.

Different size memory chips are the same physical size, so why could someone not just replace the 64GB chips with 128GB or 256GB chips?

 

[ferrarr]

it's definitely not economical to do.

Well, yes. Of course that is true. But it does not answer my question.

Different size memory chips are the same physical size, so why could someone not just replace the 64GB chips with 128GB or 256GB chips?

 

[MacInWin]

Technically, what MikeFromMesa suggests is possible, if you have the tools to open it, the soldering station to unsolder/solder the old and new chips, and the chips to do so. Last I looked the surface soldering stations were about $900, so it's a pretty expensive way to get the added storage. I seriously doubt the storage in the phone is software restricted, or someone would have posted a way to un-restrict it by now.

 

[MikeFromMesa]

Technically, what MikeFromMesa suggests is possible, if you have the tools to open it, the soldering station to unsolder/solder the old and new chips, and the chips to do so. Last I looked the surface soldering stations were about $900, so it's a pretty expensive way to get the added storage. I seriously doubt the storage in the phone is software restricted, or someone would have posted a way to un-restrict it by now.

The idea was not that I would do it myself but that some of the 3rd party iPhone repair shops would have the equipment and be able to do it. I assume if they have what they need to repair screens, replace batteries, fix front and rear cameras and the like, then they probably could also upgrade the memory. But I don't see that as an option on their webpage and that has always puzzled me.

 

[MacInWin]

Those repair shops just do a pull/replace for screens, batteries, etc. Not memory, not CPU. You would need a high-end repair facility with surface mount soldering capability, if you could get the parts. Not gonna happen.

 

[TurboSteve]

So you have a couple of options that don't include buying another phone. You could get some cloud storage and that would likely free up the space any photos or videos are taking up. Another option is what i am currently doing with my 8 plus, which is to back up the phone to my computer and airdrop a lot of the photos to the MacBook pro to maintain some storage space on the phone. I've been hesitant to upgrade my phone because i like the home button, but my wife and daughter have both moved on with 11 and 12 respectively. Also, i am finally realizing that the fingerprint scanner doesn't work when your hands are moist, and considering i live in Florida, that happens rather often, and i'm thinking the facial recognition would alleviate that.

 

[TurboSteve]

There's also this:

Refurbished iPhone 8 Plus 256GB Space Gray Unlocked - Apple

Apple Store Search Results

www.apple.com

And this:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/apple-pre-owned-iphone-8-with-256gb-memory-cell-phone-unlocked-space-gray/6351963.p?skuId=6351963

 

[Mac Man 2007]

This seller on eBay has 256 GB iPhone 8 plus unlocked NEW open box
for $370.

Security Measure

www.ebay.com

Fully guaranteed. I have no connection with eBay or this seller.
2+ years ago I bought 2 new SE 1st gen. on ebay for $110 each from a different seller. They were brand new and unlocked and work great with 100% battery.
I would not buy an iPhone from the address located in Dayton NJ. There are multiple people from overseas selling phones from that address and some of them are selling questionable products.