Why buy refurbished phones?

Have you ever considered buying a refurbished mobile phone? Imagine getting the latest iPhone or Pixel at a great price, without sacrificing quality, warranty, or peace of mind. That’s what you get with giffgaff’s refurbished phones – great quality, a wide selection of handsets – and available at a fraction of the price.

Refurbished phones are changing the game. Backed by rigorous testing, original parts, and a minimum 12-month warranty, giffgaff’s handsets offer smart savings and a smarter way to shop. Even better, every refurbished phone you choose helps tackle the mountain of electronic waste and supports a circular economy, so you’re not just saving money, you’re reducing the strain on our planet’s resources. Why pay more for “new” when you can have reliable, affordable and responsible tech?

Through their partnership with Big Issue, giffgaff has provided our vendors and job seekers with refurbished phones, enabling them to accept cashless payments and access the internet. Refurbished devices can transform an individual’s life by increasing opportunities and reducing digital exclusion while also helping to address the environmental impact of new technology. Here are the benefits of refurbished handsets and why you should consider one for your next phone upgrade:

Affordability without compromise

If you’re looking to buy a phone, giffgaff’s refurbished handsets can save you a lot of money. For example, the latest refurbished iPhone 16 is available at giffgaff for just £569 saving you £130 compared to buying a new device. Alternatively, giffgaff offers a refurbished Pixel 8 for only £349, which is an impressive £300 less than the cost of a brand-new model.

If you’re waiting for the catch, then there isn’t one. These latest generation phones have been refurbished by giffgaff, professionally data cleansed then put through a rigorous 30-point health check. If the thought of refurbished tech sparks images of dodgy handsets, dead batteries and smashed screens, then you couldn’t be more wrong.

The iPhone 16 and Pixel 8 that I’ve highlighted are each offered in ‘Like New’ condition meaning there are no visible scratches on the screen or body. They have full functionality and at least 80% battery capacity so there’s zero concerns about running flat halfway through the day. giffgaff removes all the risks by including a minimum 12-month warranty, extending this to 24 months for ‘Like New’ devices.

giffgaff refurbishes their phones with original-manufacturer parts to eradicate any compatibility issues and each one is unlocked, so that it works on any network and can be used with whatever data plan you like (P.S. giffgaff can help you out there, too!).

There’s next-day delivery on all handsets, alongside a handy 21-day cooling off period, which means if you change your mind for any reason, you can send your phone back and get a full refund.

Ethical shopping made easy

Buying a refurbished phone from giffgaff is the smart way to buy technology, especially if you’re looking to save money without compromising on the features and specifications. giffgaff’s expert refurbishers grade each phone based purely on its cosmetic quality, from ‘Good’ (a few scratches) to ‘Like New’ (No visible scratches).

For example, the Samsung Galaxy S24 can be purchased as ‘Excellent’ (Minor wear and tear, body and screen pristine) for £409, but if a few light scratches don’t bother you, the same model rated ‘Good’ offers huge savings at £319.

Alongside their vast offering of high-quality refurbished phones to fit all budgets, giffgaff’s flexible purchasing options are exactly the same as buying a brand new phone. For most handsets, you can also choose to pay in full or spread the costs by paying monthly with Klarna.

Trade in and save

If you have an old handset, then consider trading it in with giffgaff Recycle. Every phone accepted is wiped upon receipt and assessed to see if it can have a second or third life. To help more people benefit from being connected, you can donate part, or all, of the value of your old tech directly to Big Issue, helping to support our vital work in digital and financial inclusion.

Phones which are no longer suitable for use will be sent for end-of-life recycling to ensure that precious metals and elements can be extracted and reused in other products. giffgaff Recycle also offers recycling services for other tech items such as tablets, consoles, smartwatches and AirPods. By simplifying and incentivising the disposal of old electronics, giffgaff is helping budgets to go further while actively supporting the development of a more sustainable, circular economy.

Reducing environmental impact

Refurbished products undoubtedly offer incredible savings to savvy shoppers, but there are other important reasons everyone’s shopping default should be to buy ‘not new’. The modern technological era has developed within a linear economy, where the approach is to produce, consume and discard. With new products so affordable, reusing old ones often seems unnecessary, but there’s a problem. We live on a planet with finite resources, and the linear economy leads to needless waste by discarding materials without considering reuse. Buying refurbished tech is a powerful way to address these ethical and environmental challenges.

In fact, purchasing a refurbished smartphone removes the need to extract 76.9 kg of raw materials from the planet, saving around 50kg of CO2 emissions. That amounts to roughly an 87% reduction in environmental impact, compared to producing an equivalent brand-new smartphone.

As a Certified B Corp, giffgaff is committed to reducing its environmental impact and helping customers to do the same, by offering more sustainable device choices. In 2024, 67% of devices sold by giffgaff were refurbished. It’s a cornerstone of their commitment to affordable connectivity that’s good for your pocket and good for the planet.

To help reduce packaging waste, all giffgaff refurbished phones are shipped in a slimline box containing everything you need to get going: the handset, SIM tray pin (if needed) and a USB charging cable. They’re reducing e-waste further by not including a mains plug with their phones.

giffgaff’s success in normalising refurbished phones is at the heart of their circular economy strategy and they’re helping their customers to be part of it by offering the same (or sometimes even better) warranties, returns, payment plans and trade-ins as brand-new phones. Buying a refurbished mobile appeals to bargain hunters seeking huge savings and ethical consumers wanting to spend wisely whilst reducing their impact on the planet.

Whomever you are, the result is the same: buying a risk-free refurbished phone from giffgaff helps you stay connected to the people and things you love – while also keeping products and materials in use for as long as possible and supporting a more sustainable future for all. What’s not to like?

To find out more about great refurb deals from giffgaff visit:
giffgaff.com/mobile-phones/refurbished

NB: prices correct on giffgaff.com at time of publication