Cheaper and longer lasting: the advantages of buying a refurbished or used mobile phone

typical case. Classic situation. It’s probably happened to more than one person reading this: when getting up from the toilet after a social media review, or in a risky maneuver — like urinating on getting up while answering a WhatsApp — the essential phone portable finds itself submerged like an Olympic diver in the WC. And as the youth says: it was.

You could say that when this happens, the inanimate but intelligent device returns to its original state, to its element.

In this way? According to figures from the The United Nations for the creation of a unique and lean smartphone, the impressive figure of 13,000 liters of water is used.

These are numbers that are hard to imagine, but in short, it’s a lot of water, and let’s not say that it’s an element that remains on the planet today. The reality is that while the mobile phone is an interface for interacting with the digital world, it has quite a big impact on the real world.

This is why Apple, for example, in its annual environmental report constantly emphasizes its efforts to use recycled materials, renewable energy, less plastic and more sustainable products.

If there is one of the people that lamentably lost, sumergió or sufrió el robot de su celular, quizá después de conocer esta date te parezca una conscious idea (ademá de bastante conveniente en términos éconómicos) la alternativenativa de aquirir un smartphone reacondicionado o uno usado de second hand.

Although they seem synonymous, they are not the same. A refurbished cell phone, or Renovated if you want it to sound sleeker, it’s a device that for some reason was returned by a customer within days (less than 30); or a computer that arrived at the store with a factory defect; or that it has been used in a display case or displayed to the public; or whose box was damaged during a transfer. Any damage or failure is corrected and the cell phone is “like new”, even though technically it is not and therefore cannot be sold as such.

Used or used equipment, on the other hand, is equipment that has actually been in use for some time and has been sold by its previous owner. They may be in great condition – some even have repaired flaws – but they carry with them the wear and tear of the first user.

“The main difference – wrote our specialist columnist Alejandro Alaluf a few months ago – is that the first ones have been tested, tested and certified as new after their return. In other words, without original defects. Although a used product may indeed be in good condition, its chances of failure can be a lottery.

Ayleen Calles, CMO of the startup BuyYourCelu , where they sell used tech products, says it’s “important to consider second-use products as a more accessible and environmentally friendly option.” It is also a way to fight against the black market, because if second-hand products are purchased on authorized sites, “second-hand is no longer synonymous with low quality and the latest generation technology reaches more people” .

In his store, for example, you can find an iPhone 12 pro Max – which is over a million pesos new – for “only” 750,000 dollars. While still a high value, it’s about a third cheaper than the “package”.

With all these advantages —cheaper and more ecological—, it is still not easy to integrate this habit into the public. “The main damage is related to the social aspect”, recognizes Javiera Pérez, also from CompraTuCelu, where she is COO. “A lot of people who buy used items, especially tech items, don’t say they’re not new, mostly because they’re afraid of being judged,” he says.

But he says there is also another factor: mistrust. “People who have never bought a used technology product may doubt that it will work optimally or if it will have flaws, which is understandable in a way,” he assumes.

Ayleen Calles assures that in her company they have developed “software that determines breakdowns, blockages due to fraud or theft, so that the process is efficient and reliable”. If they have problems, they have a warranty policy .

The important thing is to understand that buying a used cell phone from an established store is not the same as buying it from Facebook Marketplace or from an acquaintance of an acquaintance who is selling it. There, the person exposes himself to a wheel of problems, ranging from not having all his original parts, coming with a hidden defect or that his components are very worn, to undergoing a fraud or being blocked following a declaration of flight.

“These are the main disadvantages that arise when buying informally, where it can be stolen phones or bought with companies plans, and when they sell them, they stop paying the fees”, adds- he.

First, she advises that whenever used equipment is purchased consult the site of the Undersecretary for Telecommunications of the IMEI which is the unique code of each device, to ensure that there is no risk of blocking.

“At the same time, one must be aware of the conditions in which the displays, batteries and charging inputs are. We recommend using software to test the product: thus, board failures that are not obvious to first sight are excluded,” he recommends.

They have three categories to determine the state you are in : Grade A (or the “impeke”, as it is nicknamed) is for equipment that works at 100%, with an original screen and some minimal and cosmetic details on its chassis. Grade B (or “cool”) is assigned to phones that are in perfect condition but whose screens may have some defects, such as spots or light spots, but which do not affect their performance. And the Grade C (or the “funeke”), which is delivered to the most damaged cell phones, although they are not sold in stores.

Some brands and models stand the test of time better and therefore may be more reliable to buy used. “Since second-hand phones are subject to natural wear and tear, the ideal is to choose devices that have a good balance between quality and durability, both for the battery and for the equipment in general”, explains Pérez . “In this sense, and based on our experience, we believe that the iPhone XR and 11 are fully compliant with the latter.”

https://compratucelu.cl/producto/iphone-xr-red-64-gb-grado-a-2/

239,990

Felipe Bahamonde, fixed assets specialist at the technology solutions company Zenta Group Please provide other suggestions. “When checking the equipment in person, I recommend testing the company SIM card to see if it is working properly and making a test call on the spot, to also check the headset and the microphone of the mobile phone. In addition, it is convenient to check the battery percentage in the mobile phone settings, and in the specific case of the equipment of the Apple iPhone model, make sure that the equipment is free of iCloud accounts.

Bahamonde believes that if these precautions are taken and everything is in good condition, buying a second-hand cell phone is a great idea. “Firstly because of the savings it means, between 30% and 50% of the normal value of the equipment, and secondly because it contributes to generating less electronic waste and in a certain way to the recycling technology”. In this sense, he recommends “opting for brands and models of cell phones that age well and have many years of useful life, such as the iPhone”.

The other, cheaper but more reliable option is refurbished phones. Bahamonde transmits the data: “companies have exit category or refurbished equipment, where the risk of problems is minimal. On some occasions, they may come with aesthetic but not technical details, and as a general rule, they should work 100%,” he assures. “This is a highly recommended option.”

And the data backs it up. Refurbished phones have a market projection of over $65 billion worldwide by 2024, with annual growth of 11.2%, according to consulting firm IDC. In other words, they grow faster than inflation.

Our technology journalist, Alejandro Alaluf, explained a while ago that a refurbished cell phone differs from a “used” or “used” phone in that the refurbished is one that has been returned after a few days of use, just because the customer didn’t like it or it caught a goof, but they came back to give it the same conditions — hence the name — that it had when it was new. Some are also sold as refurbished with the box just shrunken. I mean, minor details. Such a cell phone is “restored, improved and repackaged for resale, this time at a much lower price than the original”.

A good place to find models with these characteristics is Reuse , a store specializing in refurbished equipment. Also today, the retail trade sells models of these characteristics, and the price differences can reach up to 450,000 pesos.

Among the things to look for before buying a refurbished cell phone, Alaluf warned that “a cable, headphones or any other factory part may be missing from the box. You have to be careful with this and be clear and direct in asking the seller what exactly he is offering”.

Another place where you can find refurbished phones is Rephone a company that defines its story as follows: “We were driven by the idea that tomorrow we could look back and say that we have helped the planet in some way. That our children were actors in a better world and that we started with telephony”.

Come to think of it, it’s not bad at all to help the planet and in the process to do your personal finances a favor — or vice versa — after something as unfortunate as throwing your cell phone in the toilet or losing it while driving. .

Alaluf acknowledges that when buying a refurbished cell phone, impulsiveness, budget or diligence in closely examining the condition of the product has a lot to do with the outcome. However, he suggests sticking to the margins of more established brands, such as Samsung or Apple, because “Xiaomi, for example, although they have very interesting top-of-the-range models, tend to be less durable and therefore less recommended on the market .” Refurbished category.

And our columnist is not mistaken: a report by the Counterpoint agency concludes that the best-selling brands worldwide in refurbished models are Apple and Samsung and that nearly a third of buyers are from Latin America.

*Prices for products in this item are updated as of June 3, 2022. Values ​​and availability may change.