Grab an iPhone XR from Apple for less than £500

Apple’s iPhone XR is the latest product to be added to Apple’s Certified Refurbished Store, and that means big savings can be had. If you want to go down the refurb route, you can grab the iPhone XR for as little as £499 – £130 off Apple’s RRP – and the savings increase on the larger storage variants too. 

For those unaware, Apple’s Refurbished Store is where Apple sells various models of iPhone, iPad, Macs and Apple Watch that have been returned to the company before being repaired, cleaned and sold at a discount. You’ve been able to pick up a refurbished iPhone 8, 8 Plus, X, XS and XS Max for a while now, only recently adding the iPhone XR to the growing list of refurbished tech. 

Here’s how the refurb iPhone XR stacks up to the brand new kit:

• iPhone XR (64GB): £499/$499 refurbished, £629/$599 new (£130/$100 off)
• iPhone XR (128GB): £539/$539 refurbished, £679/$649 new (£140/$110 off)
• iPhone XR (256GB): £629/$629 refurbished, £779/$899 new when it was available (£150/$120 off)

If those prices are tempting, you can buy the refurbished iPhone XR from the Apple Refurb Store right now. 

What’s the difference between ‘new’ and ‘Apple Refurbished’?

You might be a little bit worried about buying a refurbished iPhone, especially if you’ve been burnt by third-party refurbished tech in the past, but it’s not the same as buying a second-hand iPhone. These are iPhones that have been returned to Apple for a number of reasons; someone could’ve simply returned the kit within 14 days (as per Apple’s refund and exchange policies), or it could be an old store demonstration model that needs a tidy-up. Or, yes, it could be a faulty model returned to Apple.

Whatever the problem, you can rest assured that Apple will have found and fixed any faults with the device before shipping it. Apple claims that refurbished tech goes through “full function testing, genuine Apple part replacements (if necessary)” and is finished up with a thorough cleaning. Essentially, the only giveaway that the product isn’t brand new should be the packaging it’s shipped in: refurb products are sent in plain white boxes to avoid people reselling the kit as new. 

You’ll also receive the same one-year warranty, 90 days of tech support and one year of free Apple TV+ as you would if you were buying a new iPhone from Apple.