There are many new and ingenious phones being manufactured with each passing day. As the days and months pass by more new phones will be fashioned. So these days it’s actually quite a frustrating decision to buy a new phone. With new and improved features being added, some being discarded, we are almost looking at hundreds of phones at a particular price segment.
Then there is the foremost issue of price.
Buying a good phone requires you to empty your pockets quite a bit. Many of us are not left with much choice except buy refurbished phones. A refurbished phone is a used phone, which has been sent back to the company and then tested, cleaned and repaired. This makes the phone almost as good as new. Well almost.
Pros of refurbished phones
The most obvious advantage of buying a refurbished phone is the drop in price. You would have to pay more for a, say, a brand new Samsung Galaxy S8. But a refurbished Galaxy S8 will cost you much less than a fresh model. Some price drops to half of the original amount. The savings you will incur will help you buy something else.
Many are often hung up on the idea, refurbished phones are defective. This is not the case. Phones can be returned to the seller for apparently no reasons at all. The purchaser might not have liked the phone and decided to return the device. So the phone will be as good as new. So you might be lucky enough to get a high end phone, which normally would cost $700 for a much lesser price of around $350.
Another advantage that indirectly comes into play is that, this is an environment friendly procedure. Instead of discarding the refurbished phones, you buy them. If the phones which were returned had not been bought then, the parts which were of no use might have been thrown away. This might have led to unnecessary harm to the environment around us. So by buying these recycled or refurbished phones you are essentially helping to keep the ecosystem clean.
Another gain that you might have is obtaining a model which is not being manufactured anymore. You will also be able to receive a warranty period from buying a refurbished phone. Although, not all brands dish out warranties but the big brands will give you a 90 day warranty period in case anything goes wrong.
Lastly, a refurbished phone will be free from any kind of defects. Sometimes new phones come with faulty parts. These phones get sent back and the defects are then altered. So purchasing a refurbished phone ensures that any type of error has been restored.
Cons of refurbished phones
Yes buying a refurbished phone has its own advantages but there are downsides to this as well. First and foremost, a refurbished phone is not a new phone. It’s a phone that has been used by someone else and then come into your possession. Remember someone might have returned this phone because there was something wrong with the phone to begin with.
Maybe any kind of physical or internal defects had been found. Internal defects like camera not working properly, the loudspeaker not being loud enough or any type of tints in the display. Physical defects can be in the form of scratches to the screen or back of the phone. Sometimes after being refurbished also, these nicks and marks never fade away. It’s really disturbing to see a mark on a new phone that you just purchased.
Many brands tend not to give a warranty on their refurbished phones. So you would be at a loss if anything happens to your phone after buying it. Then some brands only offer you a 90 day warranty period which is far less than the 1 year warranty period you can avail when purchasing a new phone. If there was some defect in the phone in beginning, you would not know if that defect has fully been revamped.
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There might be many upsides and downsides to buying a refurbished phone. But you will not know until you try one. Ordering a phone might be a bit of a daunting task considering the amount of brands and models in today’s market. Sometimes refurbished phones are the only option you have owing to some constraint. So be sure to find out everything you can about the phone before purchasing it. Whether or not the defects have been cured, you will be given warranty or not, these things should be kept in mind before procuring a refurbished phone.
