Apple begins offering refurbished iPhone 6S and 6S Plus models

Andrew Cunningham

The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.

Andrew Cunningham

I frequently point friends and family toward Apple's refurbished store to get decent deals on Macs and iPads. The selection isn't comprehensive but it's pretty good, and once a device has been on the market for a few months it's usually possible to save a few hundred dollars without really giving up anything. In recent years, though, Apple has never offered iPhones through its refurbished store—something that changed today.

Starting this week, Apple is directly selling refurbished iPhones to customers for the first time. As of this writing, Apple is only selling iPhone 6S models in 16GB capacities and 6S plus models in 16GB and 64GB capacities—per usual, we'd recommend staying away from the 16GB phones, but that decision is ultimately up to you. You'll pay $449 or $529 for a 16GB 6S or 6S Plus, and $589 for a 64GB 6S Plus. The phones come with the same Lighting cable, power adapter, and headphones as new models, and these models include the same one-year warranty that you can extend to two years with AppleCare+ for $129.

Attentive readers will note that all of these models are versions of the 6S that Apple no longer actively sells. The 16GB and 64GB capacities were replaced by 32GB and 128GB capacities when the iPhone 7 was released. It's possible that more iPhones will come to the refurbished store eventually, but it's also possible that once Apple sells through its current stock the iPhone will disappear from the refurbished store once again. In either case, it's a good way to get a decent deal on what is essentially a new phone, even if it is last year's model.