A new iPhone loses value fastest in its first two years and slowly after that. Buy at year two or three
and someone else has paid for the steep part of the curve, while the phone still has years of iOS ahead
of it. The six here are ordered on the tech axes, with durability weighted toward
how much software support and battery each one has left.
Battery health is the real condition grade
Two phones listed as “Excellent” can be very different phones, because the grade describes scratches and
the battery is what wears out. Before you read anything else in a listing, find the battery health
percentage. If the seller won’t share it, move on; there are plenty of others.
Above 90 percent is close to new. Between 85 and 90 is normal for a phone that’s been charged daily for
two years. Under 85, the phone needs a battery within the year, and the asking price should already
account for that.
The iPhone 15 goes a step further than a percentage. It shows cycle count, manufacture date, and first-use
date in Settings, so a screenshot tells you how hard the phone has been used. Nothing older does that, and
it’s a large part of why the 15 leads.
Activation Lock ends the conversation
A phone still signed in to the previous owner’s Apple Account asks for their password at setup, and no
amount of resetting gets past it. Ask the seller to confirm Find My is off before the phone ships, then set
it up the day it arrives. Listings in eBay’s “For parts or not working” condition are where these phones
end up, often with a low price and a vague description. Treat that condition as exactly what it says.
Carrier locks are the quieter version of the same problem. Search with “unlocked” in the query, use the
lock-status filter on the left of the results page, and ask for a screenshot of Carrier Lock under Settings,
General, About. It should read “No SIM restrictions.” A phone sold as working “on Verizon” or “on AT&T” is
often locked to it.
Reading an eBay Refurbished listing
eBay sorts refurbished phones into tiers. Certified Refurbished units are restored by the manufacturer or
a manufacturer-approved refurbisher and come closest to new. Excellent, Very Good, and Good come from
refurbishers eBay vets, and the grade mostly describes cosmetic wear. Each listing states its own warranty
and return terms, and those terms are worth more than the grade name.
Ordinary used listings carry eBay’s Money Back Guarantee, which covers a phone that doesn’t arrive or
doesn’t match its description. A seller who also accepts no-reason returns is still the better pick,
because “the battery drains fast” is hard to prove as a mismatch. Seller feedback on phones specifically
tells you more than the overall score.
Why the 13 outranks the 14
The two share the A15 chip, similar cameras, and nearly identical screens. There are far more 13s for sale,
and they cost noticeably less, which is enough to put the 13 a tenth of a point ahead. The 14 earns its spot
with a back panel that comes off on its own, making cracked glass a routine repair, and with satellite
Emergency SOS. If either matters to you, the 14 is your phone and the rank is just arithmetic.
One practical difference cuts the other way: US iPhone 14 and 15 models have no SIM tray. Among these six,
the 12, 13, 13 mini, and SE take a physical SIM, which matters if you swap in a local card when traveling.
Small hands, first phone, or the longest runway
- Keeping it four years or more: the iPhone 15. It has the most iOS runway and the most durable battery.
- A teenager’s first iPhone: the 13 at 128GB. Plenty of supply means you can hold out for a clean unit.
- Small hands or a front pocket: the 13 mini, with a battery replacement budgeted in.
- A grandparent who wants a home button: the SE. Touch ID and a familiar layout beat a better camera.
- A spare or travel phone: the 12, as long as you accept it’s the closest to its last update.
If an iPhone isn’t a requirement, the same years-of-updates logic decides
used Android phones. For a tablet or laptop to go with one, the
Activation Lock checks above apply unchanged to used iPads and
refurbished MacBooks.
Questions people ask
- What does 'Unknown Part' mean in an iPhone's settings?
- iOS checks whether the screen, battery, camera, and a few other parts are genuine Apple components paired to that phone. If one was replaced outside Apple's repair process, Settings shows it as Unknown Part under General, About, Parts and Service History. The phone still works, but a third-party battery may report health inaccurately and a third-party screen may look different. Ask the seller for that screen.
- How long will a used iPhone keep getting iOS updates?
- Apple doesn't announce an end date in advance. Recent iPhones have received new major iOS versions for roughly six years after launch, and Apple has kept shipping security fixes to some older versions after that. Count from the release year, not the year you buy: a 2021 iPhone 13 bought today has fewer years left than a 2023 iPhone 15, however clean the listing looks.
- How much storage should a used iPhone have?
- 128GB is the comfortable floor for a phone you'll use daily. iOS, a few messaging apps with their photo caches, and a couple of years of pictures fill 64GB faster than most owners expect, and storage can't be added later. The 13, 13 mini, 14, and 15 all start at 128GB. The SE and the 12 were sold with 64GB too, and those base units make up most of their cheapest listings.
- Should I buy a phone listed with battery health below 80 percent?
- Only at a discount that covers a new battery. Below 80 percent, iOS flags the battery as needing service and may slow the phone during peak loads to avoid shutdowns. A genuine replacement at Apple or an authorized shop restores full performance. Treat it as part of the price, not as a reason to walk away from an otherwise clean phone.