I have seen many iPhone being sold on lyn & there are many questions on whether you are getting new iPhone or refurbished iPhone or what is the age of the phone. This will help determine the date of manufacture of iPhone too.

The information is as follows:-

Okay everyone, after shopping around for an iPhone, I have noticed something over and over again. Many people sell their iPhones claiming it to be "NEW" are actually refurbished iPhones. Here are the things to look out for if the item is refurbished:

Honest sellers will say if the phone was refurbished because refurbished iPhones come with a box that's completely white. On the white box, it will say "Apple Certified". Chances are if the seller doesn't have a box for the iPhone, there is a strong chance that they purchased the phone as a refurbished unit from Apple's online store or from AT&T's online store.

Most importantly, ASK FOR THE SERIAL NUMBER before buying the iPhone!

Well why would it matter? First off, for MOST of Apple's products, especially the iPhone, the serial number will start with a 5K. If the serial number starts with that for an iPhone, then it's guaranteed to be refurbished.

New iPhones have either a 7k or 8k. The 4th digit of the serial number means the week of the year it was manufactured. So for an example, if it's 8k801xxxxx then it means the phone was produced it was manufactured the first week of 2008. 7k745 would mean that the iPhone was manufactured on the 45th week of 2007.

Also just so everyone knows, Apple will not honor the warranty if you have an "unlocked" phone. It's very hard to obtain support for the phone if you can't provide the receipt. It is possible, but difficult because "unlocking" is breaking Apple's TOS.

When an iPhone has been unlocked, the total usage time for the phone has also been cleared out. So the true way to determine how old the phone is, is to ask for the serial number. If the seller isn't willing to give out the full serial number, it's fine. As long as it includes the first 5 digits!
I purchase a iPhone 2G 16GB on Oct 2 with the first 5 characters as follows - 88818 which meant that the phone is non-refurbished and manufactured on week of May 01 2008. The phone is about 5 months old!

Some bought this from US and sell them as new. iPhone returned to Apple are sold as refurbished. In Malaysia we get iPhone from many countries.

Normally they sell it in Apple's own Store where they will mark this as refurbished. There are some in US getting 'new' phone that is actually refurbished. In US you can return the phone within 14 days or 30 days if you do not like it & get a refund. The one I bought in KL is not refurbished but it is 2 months older than stated by seller. There could be many who just buy the phone, use for a few days or weeks and decided to return the phone. Apple will clean it, test it & package this under refurbished products. There are many companies doing that in US and you can buy these products at very big discount - Apple included.