Although Apple has stopped official shipments of their equipment to Russia, the iPhone on sale, it seems, has not become smaller. On the contrary, retail chains are finding more and more new sources of replenishment of the range. Therefore, no matter what store you go to, there will be iPhones for every taste and budget. So in this regard, perhaps, it has become at least as good as it was before, and even better. Yes, imported parallel import devices have significantly risen in price, but there are still many opportunities to save money on buying a smartphone. Another thing is that everything needs to be approached wisely.
In M.Video appeared, as they are called in the trading network, “almost new” iPhones. In fact, these are second-hand devices that were brought into a divine form and put up for sale. Their target audience is those who want to get an Apple smartphone, but do not want to overpay for a new model.
Technically, M.Video does not sell “almost new” iPhones on its own, but only unites third-party sellers who do this on their website, in fact, working on the marketplace model. Say, here are the goods for you, but the responsibility for their performance and warranty lies with those who sell them. However, it doesn’t fundamentally change anything. After all, we pay money to M.Video directly, and she already transfers them to her partners.
Checking a used iPhone
Before they go on sale, they go through several stages of preparation:
- Diagnostics for breakdowns;
- Reset to factory settings and complete cleaning;
- Replacement of damaged components;
- Hygienic treatment;
- Package;
- Providing a guarantee for 6 months.
Essentially, this is exactly what Apple does when restores iPhones and prepares them for resale. Therefore, they are called “almost new” and the price for them is higher than just for used iPhone. Although, of course, purely technically they are, which is clearly indicated on the website of the trading network.
But there is a problem: such an iPhone is quite expensive. So expensive that it’s really more profitable to buy a new copy that no one has used before you, and even more so no one has repaired it. Let’s take as an example used iPhone 11 for 64 GB. In M.Video, it costs neither more nor less, 42,190 rubles.
However, on Yandex.Market, the price of exactly the same device, only new, is about 40 thousand, or even less. Here is an example from the i-Ray website: the same iPhone 11 64 GB for 49,490 rubles. We don’t owe them anything, just like they don’t owe us anything. It’s just that their prices are really cool, which is why I myself and my friends have repeatedly bought Apple equipment from them.
Yes it gray iPhone, which came to Russia bypassing official supply channels. But, firstly, now the boundaries of officiality are quite blurred. And, secondly, no one knows the origin of that “almost new” iPhone that M.Video partners offer you.
Should You Buy a Used iPhone?
Someone may be confused by the absence official warranty for gray smartphones. Yes, now it may be somewhat more difficult to achieve maintenance of such a device in authorized service centers than before. But there are a couple of things to consider here:
- Gray iPhone – this is a new iPhone with original components, inside of which no one climbed before you, which means that its service life and reliability are a priori higher than those of devices restored on the knee. I strongly doubt that INSYTECH, which sells “almost new” iPhones in M.Videothere is a repair production of a full cycle.
- Guaranteewhich applies to “almost new” iPhones in M.Video is provided by the seller, who, at best, will repair it using counterfeit components ordered on Aliexpress, and even if not, he still does not have the opportunity to calibrate them and will not due to lack of necessary equipment.
I can understand why M.Video decided to sell used iPhones. The experience of Svyaznoy and other retailers has shown that this is a very popular segment of the market, and it would be absolutely wrong from a commercial point of view to neglect it. However, the guys clearly did not think over the pricing policy or thought it over, but hoped that only idiots would come for such devices.
Obviously, M.Video pretended that gray iPhones in Russia does not exist and preferred to compare the prices of “almost new” with those that were brought into the country by parallel imports. But even these iPhones are a little more expensive than used ones. Pay extra 5-7k rubles and get an official guarantee and even the opportunity to buy in installments.
I think my opinion about used iPhones, even if they are called “almost new”, is understandable. Under no circumstances should you buy a device. Not only because it is expensive, but because it is simply unsafe, neither in terms of the reliability of the device itself, nor in terms of after-sales service.
