Question When to buy referbished iPhone

[a_load_of_barnacles]

I need to buy a new phone, the iPhone 4 I have now just isn't a great experience at all. I was thinking about buying a refurbished iPhone 7 on eBay. 32 GB for a relatively good $180. My question is, should I wait for Apple to release their new iPhones in September before buying these? How much do refurbished prices usually go down after a new phone reveal if at all? I'd like to buy a new phone sooner than later, so the sooner the better.

Thank you!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Refurbished hardware, and phones, generally don't drop in price at all after they are already two generations behind. If they are selling for that price now, as refurbished units, then the release of a new generation isn't going to affect their pricing because they are already too far behind in terms of features for new features to affect their value. They are already being marketed to those who don't need the latest and greatest, none of which is likely to change at all based on a newer release. Whatever they are being sold for now is probably right at the point where the profit margin really doesn't have much room for tinkering.

 

[a_load_of_barnacles]

Refurbished hardware, and phones, generally don't drop in price at all after they are already two generations behind. If they are selling for that price now, as refurbished units, then the release of a new generation isn't going to affect their pricing because they are already too far behind in terms of features for new features to affect their value. They are already being marketed to those who don't need the latest and greatest, none of which is likely to change at all based on a newer release. Whatever they are being sold for now is probably right at the point where the profit margin really doesn't have much room for tinkering.

Thank you so much for the great response! Just another quick question. Does a phone like the iPhone 8 in refurbished terms have anymore room to drop then? Like if I waited for this release then would the price of the 8 drop down to around the same price of the 7 (although higher to be sure) and slowly stagnate down after that or is the 8 already removed enough to not drop significantly all at once? I know Apple will probably still sell it after this release unlike the 7 and I don't know how this affects it. I just want to get the bang for my buck.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That's hard to say. Apple products are so much different, in every way you can think of, than other products, that what happens as far as trends regarding those products is concerned is something that I can't honestly say will go one way or the other. I know that's pretty vague, but I've seen Apple products actually increase in price from what they were at at a given point in time and then I've also seen them just about lose all value entirely.

My best advice would be to not buy any Apple product that is not still being sold officially in some form, because the chances are good that you'll have a really hard time getting support or service after that point if that is something you are even remotely concerned about. You might be better served going to one of the iPhone forums and directly asking some of the veteran members there that deal with Apple products a lot more consistently than I do, which isn't much honestly.

 

[Sagar_20]

Don't buy anything older than the iPhone 7.

Apple will push one more update, and all their older phones will slow down to death.

That's already happened with the iPhone 5s.

If you want it sooner than later, then i think that's a good deal.

At least, you will have that button and fingerprint reader (Touch ID), which you will no more see on the newer iPhones.

If the price difference is not much, i would recommend to get the iPhone 8.

 

[jsmithepa]

Buying used smartphones on eBay is the wild-wild west, u don't know whether the phone is hot or whether the IMEI gonna get disable in a few weeks time.