I wish my carrier was AT&T. I say that out of jealousy, since my current carrier (Verizon) isn’t offering an insane deal on the iPhone 5. Starting today, all you lucky AT&T customers out there will have access to a special Refurbished version of the iPhone 5. Refurbished meaning that the company took phones with previous problems, or phones that were returned (for a variety of reasons) and “repaired” them so that they look and function like a brand new device.
A lot of people may be turned off by the word repair, but it doesn’t necessarily suggest anything is wrong with these refurbished phones. Just like a clearance item at your local box store, customers often return products for a wide variety of reasons. It could be something serious, like they broke the screen, or the internal hardware had a hiccup, sure. But a lot of devices are probably returned for frivolous reasons like not being the right color, or not having enlightened memory. Maybe someone bought a crazed Microsoft fanboy an iPhone 5 as a joke, and they opted to get their money back instead of smashing it under their car tire.
Whatever the reasoning, refurbished isn’t really a bad thing. You’re essentially getting a new phone (with warranty) for a very low price. In fact, I bought my iPhone 4 RE-certified from Verizon a while back, since I didn’t have the money for a new one (and I have been incredibly happy with my phone).
AT&T is offering the base model, 16 gigabyte, refurbished iPhone 5 for the crazy low price of USD $99. You’d be silly to pass up a deal like this, considering that’s a USD $100 savings. It’s not just the base model that’s getting a price cut either. The cellular company is also offering the 32-gigabyte and 64-gigabyte models for the same price cut of USD $100 under the value of a new device.
You can get either a black or white refurbished iPhone 5 with any of these storage capacities right now from the AT&T store, but act fast. We are not entirely sure if this is a mainstay or just a Black Friday sale. Although judging by what Verizon and Sprint have done in the past, with certified pre-owned phones, its likely that these slashed versions are here to stay. You know the saying though, better safe than sorry.
Photo Credit: AT&T
