Like Tree13Likes

Fake iPhones

Closed Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
  1. #1

    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Nam Pont Building, Sham Shui Po
    Posts
    2

    Fake iPhones

    Hey Everyone!


    I'm considering buying a used iPhone 6/6s (Plus or Regular) from Carousell. I haven't owned any iPhones before and I don't know how to check 'em. I'm also afraid that they may be stolen. Does anyone know how to check the integrity of an iPhone? Whether it's still usable? If bought using a data plan, how do I check whether there's still an outstanding balance to it? Also, how do I check whether it was stolen or not?

    Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks!


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    6,714

    You live on Apliu Street, why would you buy from Carousell when you are in 2nd hand phone heaven at your doorstep downstairs?

    Fenix2 likes this.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Nam Pont Building, Sham Shui Po
    Posts
    2

    Sorry, I'm just a university student here who just moved in. Thanks for letting me know. But, how exactly do I check them?


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Posts
    831

    I would err on the side of caution when buying used phones here. Many people have fixed their phones with non-OEM parts at local repair shops. Whilst this isn’t a big problem, the price needs to be reduced accordingly. Just make sure the battery is been replaced, touch screen still functions and you should be good to go. The iPhone 6 Plus is not my favorite iPhone models ever. Great phone


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    6,714
    Quote Originally Posted by despinosa3:
    Sorry, I'm just a university student here who just moved in. Thanks for letting me know. But, how exactly do I check them?
    Get them to make a call on the phone you are interested in to the phone you have now, then you'll see if its unlocked and working.

    You can then transfer the number you already have to a new sim on the new phone.

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    357
    Quote Originally Posted by despinosa3:
    Sorry, I'm just a university student here who just moved in. Thanks for letting me know. But, how exactly do I check them?
    Don't buy second hand then

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Posts
    1,550

    If you are buying an iphone, try to get it registered with your icloud account. If its stolen and reported/blacklisted, it cant be registered to apple servers/icloud.

    Phones in HK are not sim locked. So check wether the phone you are buying was sold/made for HK.


  8. #8

    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Posts
    1,492

    Here's a thought, instead of trying to flash and spending money on a used, potentially fake, defective or stolen phone just because it's Apple. Buy a brand new Xiaomi phone for about 1000HK with no headaches, a warranty and that will do pretty well everything that iPhone 6 will do and more except of course flash your brand name.

    HK_Katherine, shri and orel100x like this.

  9. #9

    Join Date
    May 2009
    Posts
    6,180

    Firstly, there are no fake iPhone. It's technically no possible to fake an iPhone. Putting a sticker on a random phone doesn't make it a (fake) iPhone.

    You can create an AppleID, take the phone, and login to your AppleID. If it connects it's an iPhone.

    2nd hand phones can have lots of issues. They might be repaired with not authorized parts and brick later. Or some function that you don't notice may not work. On one poorly repaired phone the GPS didn't work anymore. I got one phone were after repair the Wifi reception became very poor.

    I would also advice getting anew Xiaomi, or whatever. You get much more phone for the money.


  10. #10

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    11,884

    From your post it looks like:

    - You are not a local who can speak and read Cantonese and can talk to repair places
    - The cost of a phone isn't trivial to you
    - You are very unfamiliar with phones and can't do internet research past posting a shotgun blast of questions on a new forum.

    Combining all three, you should seriously reconsider whether buying a used phone off some random stranger is a good idea. If anything goes wrong, you are basically completely out of luck with no way of redress. e.g. you run into the proven Apple battery slowdown problem, tough luck.

    Rather than buying in to a 'status' brand and taking on a whole load of risk, consider buying new (for warranty) from a brand with a good reputation. Xiaomi has a great reputation for value and function here. Same with the Moto series. There are a bunch of other brands and models that have been recommended before on this forum.

    You should only be buying secondhand if you are familiar with the product, you are familiar with the environment you're buying it in (you didn't know that you're living in the middle of the secondhand electronics market!), and you can afford to take the 100% loss if the product just breaks on you.

    Edited to add: I'm not even sure what people charge for secondhand iPhones these days so don't know your budget, but OnePlus could be a good option, they have a 2 week return policy if you don't like the phone.

    Last edited by jgl; 12-04-2018 at 09:52 AM.
    imparanoic, jmbf, shri and 1 others like this.

Closed Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast