Is Your Phone New or Refurbished?

With how good refurbished phones have gotten, it’s easier for shady dealers and companies to pass off refurbished phones as new ones to unsuspecting buyers to make more profit. Before you go ahead and buy, it’s best to cross-check and make sure you’re getting exactly what you want. Today, we’re going to tell you how you can identify if a phone is new, or if it’s been refurbished.

What is a Refurbished Phone?

Refurbished phones are previously owned or damaged phones that were handed back or sold to retailers to be repaired and then resold. Not all refurbished phones are used phones, some are new phones that were used as display items or opened briefly and returned. Refurbished phones are generally sold under listings marked as refurbished, renewed, restored, pre-owned, pre-loved, second-hand, or used. With the rise in prices of phones, more people have been looking to purchase refurbished phones, as they are often sold for much less than new phones. However, if you have purchased a new phone especially from an unfamiliar source, such as a third-party seller on Amazon or eBay, you should check to see if your phone is actually new or if it has been refurbished.

Is Your Android New or Refurbished?

IMEI Method

To tell if your Android is new or refurbished, first you have to check your phone’s IMEI. To check if your phone is refurbished by IMEI, you’ll first open your phone app and dial *#06#. If you dial this number correctly, your phone’s IMEI should now be displayed on your screen. Take a screenshot or write the number down on paper.

Next open your settings app, then scroll down to “About Phone”. In your “About Phone” you should see Software Status or just “Status”. Click it. From here you should be able to check your IMEI information.

Now compare the two numbers, if they don’t match, then the Android phone you’re using is not brand new. Another way you can check your phone status using IMEI is to compare the IMEI that is on the phone box with the one from the *#06# lookup method. Ideally, these numbers should match up. If not, that could be a clear sign that you have a refurbished phone.

You can also use your IMEI to check if your phone is new or used by using an IMEI tool like the website SICKW. There are so many checks available on this site, and most can be checked for free. Just be sure to get a sample of the SICKW results before running the IMEI check as they do limit the amount of checks you can run per day, unless you pay for their IMEI service.

Look For Physical Damage

The number one way to tell if a phone is new or refurbished used to be as simple as inspecting the phone’s body. Now, as refurbished phones have improved greatly in recent time so much that some look as good as their new counterparts. Refurbishers can even use new parts when repairing old phones. This means there could be no signs of use and the phone could still be refurbished.

So this method isn’t as effective as it used to be. Especially if you’re dealing with Grade A refurbished phones. If you’re dealing with Grade B or below, with close inspection you should be able to tell it apart from new mobiles. With that being said, always inspect the device for scratches, dents and signs of use. If you find anything, then your device is probably not new.

Check The Box

New phones ship with boxes made by their manufacturers and typically come with in-box accessories such as charging boxes and cables. If a device doesn’t come with a box made by its manufacturer or some items are missing from the box, then it’s most likely a refurbished device. Watch Youtube videos of the device’s unboxing so you’ll know what items should be inside the box. Also be sure to check the box for scruffs, dents and other signs of use. It could be an indicator that the box/device has been used before.

Is Your iPhone New or Refurbished?

Model Number Method

Checking to see if an iPhone is used is very straightforward compared to Android. It can be done easily from the settings apps. 

Here’s how:

• First open Settings
• Then go to General
• Then press About Phone

Here, you will find your phone’s serial number. Take note of the first letter of your iPhone’s model number as it will tell you if it has been refurbished by Apple:

M – It is a brand new device 

N – The device was issued as a replacement for an iPhone that developed issues

F – The device is refurbished

P – The iPhone was originally sold with a personalized message engraved on the chassis.

You can also get this model info on SICKW to find out if your iPhone is new or refurbished. However, you may have to pay for some of the IMEI checks.

Keep in mind, that this only works for iPhones that have been refurbished by Apple. If a third-party refurbisher has refurbished it, the model number likely won’t be changed. Continue to the next methods if you think this may be the case.

Check the Battery Health

On iPhones, you can check the battery’s health which allows you to gauge the age of your battery and can help you determine if your iPhone has been refurbished. You can do this by going to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging. If your battery health is at 100% and your device came in an original Apple box and has no physical signs of use, then your iPhone is likely brand new from Apple. However, just because your battery health is at 100% doesn’t mean that your phone is brand new. This is because refurbishers are able to replace batteries in iPhones which can bring the battery health up to like-new condition, essentially extending the life of the phone. If this is the case for you, then you’ll want to check the box to ensure that it is original from Apple. Also, make sure the IMEI and serial number on the box match what is in your settings. You can go to Settings > General> About to find IMEI and serial number info.

If your battery health has fallen to less than 80% of its original capacity, this is usually when you’ll need to start taking measures to extend your battery life. However, anything greater than 80% is generally considered good.

Check Your iPhone’s Parts & Service History

If you have an iPhone 12 or a newer model and have updated to the latest iOS (requires iOS 15.2 or later), you can now check the replacement history of some of the parts on your iPhone. These include: the battery, screen, logic board assembly, TrueDepth camera, and rear camera. The iPhone 11 series iPhones support only battery and screen replacement history, while the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone SE (2nd and 3rd generation) only support this history for batteries.

To check the parts and service history for your iPhone on iOS 15.2 or later, navigate to Settings > General > About. If your iPhone has had any of the parts listed above replaced you’ll see a list of the parts replaced here. Your iPhone will also show you whether a replaced part has been recognized as genuine. However, if a part doesn’t show as genuine, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not an authentic Apple part. This can happen because verifying a genuine Apple part requires specialized software that Apple only provides to authorized service providers.

If a part has been replaced on your iPhone, you may also get a notification about an “Unknown part”. This message will usually display if the part is non-genuine or if it was replaced by a third-party refurbisher and not an Apple authorized refurbisher. However, if a device has been refurbished by a non-Apple authorized refurbisher, that doesn’t necessarily mean the part is faulty or will negatively affect your phone. Many refurbishers with specialized repair knowledge can perform high-quality repairs, as modern phone repairs are generally straightforward for these professionals.

Is A Refurbished Phone Bad?

This depends. If the refurbished phone was worked on by experts and was done correctly, you should have a perfectly good smartphone option. It’s important to make sure that the device you purchased was clearly advertised as refurbished, renewed, restored, or used and the price should also reflect its prior use. If you’re looking for the best refurbished iPhones, make sure to buy from trusted sources that clearly disclose the device’s condition. Most refurbished phones on the market today are just as good or almost as good as a brand new device. This is because most of the parts on a phone are non-consumable, meaning they don’t degrade much over time. The one part of a phone that is most consumable is the battery, however, phone batteries can easily be replaced in a cost effective manner to allow an entire second, third, or even fourth life for a phone. The one thing that might stop you from using a phone much longer than that is the fact that manufacturers are usually only releasing software and security updates for around 7 years. If your device is no longer receiving these updates it can cause your phone to be more vulnerable to security breaches and have software glitches, so at this point it is recommended to get a newer device that still receives updates.

Overall, a refurbished device is good! It can be a great way to save money while getting a device that is still works really well. Buying from a reputable phone dealer like SmartphonesPLUS you can get refurbished phones with similar quality to brand new ones for a fraction of the price. With new phone prices rising, demand for refurbished devices will continue to grow. More people are now realizing that buying a refurbished phone is a smart and cost-effective choice.