On Amazon, a refurbished phone listed in “Excellent” condition can arrive with a battery that holds 81% of its original charge, and that’s within the rules. Amazon’s grades for its Renewed program describe how the device looks from 12 inches away. The battery has its own, separate floor. Most refurbished listings work like this, and once you know which label covers which part of the device, the category gets a lot less mysterious.
Refurbished electronics can be a very good way to spend less on a phone, tablet or laptop. They can also be a slightly used device with a short guarantee and a tired battery, sold at a price that isn’t far below new. The difference usually comes down to four things: who did the refurbishing, how long you’re covered, what the battery promise says, and how many years of software updates the model has left.
Here’s how the big programs compare, and the checks I’d run before paying for one.
The main programs, side by side
These terms come from each program’s own pages and listings as of this month. They change, and individual listings can differ, so treat the table as a map and the product page as the final word.
| Program | Who refurbishes | Coverage | Battery promise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Certified Refurbished | Apple | One-year limited warranty, AppleCare can be added | New battery and outer shell on iPhone and iPad; Macs get parts replaced as needed |
| Amazon Renewed | Qualified manufacturers and third-party refurbishers | 90-day Amazon Renewed Guarantee; one year for Renewed Premium | At least 80% of original capacity; 90% for Renewed Premium |
| Back Market | Independent refurbishers it screens | One-year warranty, free 30-day returns | Phones: minimum 80% battery health |
| Walmart Restored | Approved third-party sellers | 90-day free returns; Restored Premium carries at least a one-year warranty | Varies by listing |
| Best Buy Geek Squad Certified Refurbished | Best Buy | Varies by product; many listings show 90 days on parts and labor | Not stated as a fixed standard |
Manufacturers run their own programs too. Samsung sells Certified Re-Newed Galaxy phones, refurbished with genuine Samsung parts, and its U.S. units sold through Amazon carry a one-year limited manufacturer warranty. Laptop makers have outlets too. Lenovo’s U.S. outlet backs its Certified Refurbished machines with a standard one-year warranty, while Dell’s terms depend on which of its refurbished storefronts you buy from.
Read “Excellent” as a cosmetic word
Condition grades are mostly about scratches. Amazon spells this out more clearly than most: Excellent means no visible marks when the device is held 12 inches away, Good allows light scratches that are barely visible at that distance, and Acceptable allows scratches you can see and feel, plus a few small dents. All three share the same 80% battery floor and the same 90-day guarantee. Renewed Premium is the tier that raises the bar on the battery and the coverage.
Back Market and Best Buy also grade mostly on looks, and every seller’s scale is slightly different. My rule is simple. Pay up a grade for a phone or a tablet you’ll hold all day, and save the money on a laptop that will live on a desk with a case or a sleeve over the lid. A scuff on a laptop bottom costs you nothing. A bright scratch across a phone screen bothers you every day.
Accessories vary just as much. Apple ships its refurbished devices in a new white box with all the standard accessories and cables. Amazon’s grades say you may get generic or original accessories and packaging. If a genuine charger matters to you, price it into the comparison before deciding.
The battery decides whether the savings are real
A phone battery wears out with use, and the refurbished price assumes some of that wear has already happened. Apple rates the iPhone 15 line to keep about 80% of its original capacity through 1,000 full charge cycles, double its rating for earlier models. Whatever the model, a refurbished phone at 82% is already close to the level where Apple’s own rating stops, and the number only moves one way from there.
That’s why the Apple program stands apart for phones and iPads: those devices get a new battery. Everywhere else, you’re buying a minimum. A device at 81% clears Amazon’s and Back Market’s bar. It may also need a battery replacement in a year or two, which is an extra repair bill that wipes out part of the discount.
Check it the day the box arrives. On an iPhone, Settings, then Battery, then Battery Health shows the maximum capacity, and on iPhone 15 and later models the cycle count is listed under Settings, General, About. On a Mac laptop, System Information shows the cycle count under Power. If the number is below what the listing promised, start a return right away instead of waiting to see how it feels.
Also keep in mind that Back Market’s warranty, like most, excludes the normal decline in battery capacity. A battery that fades from 85% to 79% over a year is wear, not a defect, and nobody owes you a new one.
Two clocks: the return window and the warranty
Coverage on refurbished gear runs on two separate clocks, and it pays to know which one you’re on. The return window is your chance to send the device back for any reason. The warranty covers defects after that, usually through repair or replacement, and only for problems that aren’t wear or damage.
Amazon’s 90-day Renewed Guarantee works more like a long return window: if the device doesn’t work as expected, you can get a replacement or a refund. Back Market gives you 30 days to return and a year of warranty after that. Apple’s one-year warranty matches what you’d get on a new device, and you can still add AppleCare.
The weak spot is the device with a short guarantee that develops a problem in month five. If the item costs a few hundred dollars or more, I’d rather pay a little extra for a listing with a full year of coverage than save on one with 90 days.
Count the years of updates left
A cheap refurbished phone is a bad deal if it stops getting security updates next year. Google promises seven years of operating system and security updates for the Pixel 8 and newer, counted from when each model first went on sale in its U.S. store. Samsung promises seven generations of Android upgrades and seven years of security updates starting with the Galaxy S24 family. Older models from both brands have shorter windows.
Apple doesn’t publish a fixed number of years, so for an iPhone or a Mac, look at how old the model is and which recent software versions it supports. A newer model at a smaller discount often ends up cheaper per year of use than an older one at a big discount.
When new is the better buy
Refurbished wins when the gap is big and the coverage is solid. It loses when a sale on new hardware narrows the gap. With Black Friday coming on November 27 and holiday sales building in the weeks before it, that can happen soon on exactly the models people tend to shop refurbished.
Here’s a made-up example to show the math. A laptop is $800 new with a one-year warranty, and a refurbished unit of the same model is $660 with a 90-day warranty and a used battery. That’s $140 in savings. If a holiday sale drops the new one to $700, the gap shrinks to $40, and the new laptop with a fresh battery and a full year of coverage is the easy pick. Set a price alert on the new model before you commit to the refurbished one.
New also makes more sense for anything where the battery is most of the value, like wireless earbuds, which are hard to repair. For desktop computers, monitors and gear without a battery, refurbished holds up much better.
A checklist for the day it arrives
- Check the battery number against the listing’s promise, using the steps above.
- Confirm the model and storage match the order, using the settings menu instead of the box label.
- Look up the serial number on the manufacturer’s warranty site. Apple’s coverage checker will show whether the device is registered and whether the warranty is active.
- Make sure it’s yours. A phone or laptop still tied to someone else’s account, like Apple’s Activation Lock, should go straight back.
- Test it with your SIM if the listing says unlocked, and make calls, use data and send a text the first day.
- Go over the cosmetics in good light and photograph any damage that goes beyond the grade you paid for.
- Write down the return deadline. Whatever program you used, problems are easiest to fix inside that window.
A refurbished device that clears all of that is usually a good purchase. One that fails any of it should go back in the box before the return window closes, and the price alert you set on the new model will tell you what to buy instead.
