Buying iPhones from Shenzhen? Check Top Shopping Tips from a Huaqiangbei iPhone Seller

Buying iPhones from Shenzhen sounds like a voyage of discovery as thrilling as you dig deeper. There’re lots of refurbished iphones that are just scams and not worth the price tags they’re labeled at. But under the hood, there lies many irresistible deals you can not miss whether you’re purchasing for business purpose or personal use.

Without a good knowledge of what to look out for while buying wholesale refurbished iphones from China, chances are high that you might get compromising quality of what you’ve paid for. Today we walked into Feiyang Times Mansion, the largest refurbished iphone markets in Huaqiangbei and had a chat with a business owner Mr. Yang, sharing his experience of how to spot high quality phones to avoid being scammed.

Where do iPhones from Feiyang come from?

Most iPhones available in Feiyang come from Hongkong. Based on quality iPhones are categorized into three grades: A, B, and C before entering mainland. The majority of phones falling into the three categories function well, especially Grade A that can be sold directly upon arrival. However, it’s imperative to test quality of each iPhone before putting on sale.

Scratches and cracks are commonly seen in iPhones labeled as Grade B and C. For example, iPhone B1 comes with scratched screen yet perfect rear housing while iphone B2 features smooth screen but cracked rear housing, then the magic comes into play. The dealers would change the screen from B2 to B1, in this case, they would get a splendid A grade iphone that can sell at much higher rate and an inferior B grade or C.

While you’re buying refurbished iPhones from different shops in Huaqiangbei, it’s commonly seen that some iPhones come with one tag, some with two or three while some are blank without any tag marks. Most iPhones are categorized with marks indicating quality grade in HK. Those iPhones without any mark can be they just went through fixing process or have to be fixed soon. A rule of thumb, the most preferred one is iPhone with a single tag labeled in HK or with another added tag of the shop.

How to check if the screen has been changed?

For versions older than iPhone X

A popular Chinese app to assist with identifying the authenticity of refurbished iPhone is called i4. As you can see from the following test report, it analyzed current serial numbers and matched with the original serial numbers, highlighted in red the parts that didn’t match with the records. In this test, it reminded us the front camera has been changed before.

A screen usually consists of two modules: front camera and fingerprint module. In most circumstances, while switching screen only the fingerprint module is replaced as front cameras still functions in the same phone while fingerprint censor is linked to the exact main board. To swift both modules it would slow down working efficiency, usually most dealers would just swift the fingerprint module that can be easily detected from i4 app.

For versions newer than iPhone X

For newer versions of iPhone, the front camera is housed inside rather than in the screen, making it hard to detect from i4. However, testing the auto-brightness and whether it comes with the option of True Tone is a decisive element whether the screen has been changed before.

What to look out for while buying iPhones from Huaqiangbei?

1. Test all the buttons, WIFI, Bluetooth, GPS, etc.
2. Put sim cards into two iPhones and make phone calls, test the quality of receiver, with headphone, etc.
3. Shoot continuously for 600 photos while charging.
4. Keep the flash on and video record for two hours while charging.

The above steps might seem weird at a glance, however, the first assures the quality of hardware, while the second checks the communication function, the third and fourth test whether the main-board would restart or not.    

As to warranty period of iPhone, you can easily check with serial number here.

https://checkcoverage.apple.com/

Locked iPhone and unlocked iPhone

A locked iPhone usually only works with one single carrier it’s locked to while an unlocked phone is not exclusively limited to one instead it’s compatible with any carrier’s network. If the iPhone is locked to T-mobile, you can’t use sim card from Verizon or other countries’.

How to unlock a locked iPhone?

1. Some carriers allow people to have their phones unlocked at the end of the contract, which is barely possible if you’re buying refurbished iphones from Huaqiangbei.
2. In 2017 GPP Team in mainland China has developed a kind of card sticker after discovering an iccid bug in iPhone, it bypasses the server of Apple while activating and grants network license to access carrier’s signal. Since then, unlocking a locked iPhone has been a breeze in mainland, what you have to do is just buy a card sticker and insert the sim card , activate and the magic goes.

The price difference between locked iPhone and unlocked ones used to be huge but with the magic tricks of card sticker the gap is decreasing.

How to check if an iPhone is unlocked or not?

The simplest way to check if the iPhone you’re going to snap up is unlocked or not is just test with at least two different sim cards from different carriers.