Are these iphones genuinely new?
Are these iphones genuinely new?
Author
Discussion

CoolHands

Original Poster:

23,696 posts

226 months

Tuesday 22nd January 2019
quotequote all
Ok colour me naive, but they’ve sold thousands of them, and say they’re new. I need to buy one for my mum and these seem good value at 93 quid for a 5s 16gb. I’m just wondering, are they really genuinely new? I imagine if they’ve sold so many and they were all refurbed then by now the feedback would be going south. They sell other models too. If they are real where do they get them from, I’d it Apple moving old models?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Apple-iPhone-5S-16G...

P-Jay

11,414 posts

222 months

Tuesday 22nd January 2019
quotequote all
Seems odd there would still be stock of 5.5 year old iPhones still hanging around, but it seems (like the SE) the 5S had a long life, they made all the way up to 2017 for the Indian market.

They can run i0S 12 so they’re still current.

tim0409

5,981 posts

190 months

Wednesday 23rd January 2019
quotequote all
They are sent in a generic (not retail) box with an expired Apple warranty. I think despite what they say, they will be refurbished stock; if they are anything like Apple refurbished stock they will be indistinguishable from new, which is probably why the feedback is so good.

anonymous-user

85 months

Wednesday 23rd January 2019
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There is some interesting negative feedback

devnull

3,873 posts

188 months

Wednesday 23rd January 2019
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I'd very much doubt they are new. Most of the time these are poor refurbs using non genuine parts. Cheap for a reason!

snuffy

13,466 posts

315 months

Wednesday 23rd January 2019
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From the advert:



So New in quotes and "no signs of use..". Looks more like "like new" to me.

anonymous-user

85 months

Wednesday 23rd January 2019
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Says new other which to me means a return or a refurb

Saleen836

12,530 posts

240 months

Wednesday 23rd January 2019
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Someone I know bought one of these (from a different source) worked perfectly except for the GPS so couldn't use maps or location services, a quick google for info and they did a factory hard reset, once they did this the phone would not register for them to set it all back up, took it into Apple store for them to look at only for them to say it's a return/refurb phone from Macau and must have had some program installed to unlock it, the hard reset deleted what ever was installed and the phone was again locked and now a paperweight.

anonymous-user

85 months

Wednesday 23rd January 2019
quotequote all
A lot of the positive fe4edback will be from people just receiving it and switching it on and seeing it works.
A lot of issues can occur after a few days or weeks. Batteries have shorter life than expected some apps won't work etc

P-Jay

11,414 posts

222 months

Wednesday 23rd January 2019
quotequote all
Seems odd there would still be stock of 5.5 year old iPhones still hanging around, but it seems (like the SE) the 5S had a long life, they made all the way up to 2017 for the Indian market.

They can run i0S 12 so they’re still current.