r/applehelp • u/bravo_88 • Oct 27 '24
Is this unopened iPhone 16 Pro real or fake? Scam Discussion
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u/foraging_ferret Oct 27 '24
Impossible to say from just the box but you’ll find out pretty quickly when you turn it on. Where did you buy it?
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u/bravo_88 Oct 27 '24
Domestic website for selling/buying goods, something like Ebay. Haven't bought it yet, I am trying to figure out if it is legit since they are new on that website and have no ratings yet.
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u/AustinBike Oct 27 '24
It shows up on Apple's site as an iPhone 16 Pro and says it has not been registered. But that does not mean that it is legit.
I'm generally wary of all Apple products. If this is new and unopened, the person could simply return it for full price. Why are they willing to sell it to you at some reduced price if they could get a full price return from Apple?
In simple terms, an unopened Apple box means a fake or a stolen item to me.
A fake will be, um, fake. A stolen item is even worse because you're walking around with a stole item AND a GPS transponder that can let the authorities track you and retrieve the item.
Buyer beware.
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u/bravo_88 Oct 27 '24
It is from a very popular domestic selling website, something like Ebay, but this seller is new and has no ratings yet, however they offer all iPhone 16 Pro models. A lot of people in my country go and buy iPhones in Germany, Hungary or other EU states, they bring them to Serbia and they sell them for a bit higher price, that's how they earn. And if you buy an iPhone with cash, the price they give is way more cheaper compared to Carrier deals. So this seller is one of them, most of them have lots of positive reviews, but this one is new. They offer a very good deal for my country. I asked for a photo of the box with the serial, and it matches online. But scammers have solved that problem too with the boxes.
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u/Suspicious_Virus3640 Oct 27 '24
Why do u think its fake?
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u/bravo_88 Oct 27 '24
The seller is new on an Ebay-like website (domestic site in Serbia) and has no ratings and reviews yet
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u/Suspicious_Virus3640 Oct 27 '24
How much is he selling for?
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u/bravo_88 Oct 27 '24
1230 euros
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u/spac0r Oct 27 '24
what‘s the normal price in your country?
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u/bravo_88 Oct 27 '24
It's a very complex question because we don't have a normal price. Official authorized resellers and carriers are the most expensive - for the context about 400-500$ more than the USA price for the iphone. Then we have unofficial resellers that sell at lower prices, about 200-300$ more than the USA price. Those are usually the best deals, but you gotta have clean cash to buy it. People usually go for crazy expensive carrier deals because they give you instalments. As for these unofficial resellers, those are the people who bring the phones from other EU countries for lower price, and they sell it for higher price here in Serbia but in the other hand cheaper than carriers. So the best deals can be found in those offers. When iPhones come out in September, the prices are very high and than gradually going down as the time goes buy.
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u/QuantumHope Oct 27 '24
Maybe they lost their receipt and couldn’t return it.
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u/bravo_88 Oct 27 '24
No they are sellers. They buy iphones in outher EU countries for a cheaper price, and sell them in Serbia for higher price. But the higher price they are selling it for in Serbia is actually cheaper than carrier deals in Serbia, and carriers here are basically legal thieves.
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u/rwb12 Oct 27 '24
It doesn’t look unopened. There are cuts in the stickers. It looks real enough but this is just pics of the box.
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u/peterosity Oct 27 '24
there doesn’t seem to be any clear sign it’s “definitely” a fake. the only question you should ask yourself is this: are you willing to gamble on that, as in, is that amount of money a big loss to you if it turns out to be fake?
the thing is, if you’re rich and this money is nothing to you, the original price shouldn’t be a problem either, then you should probably just buy new directly from apple or a telecom carrier; if that amount is a huge loss to you, then gambling would be quite idiotic if you cannot confirm it’s authentic, you should simply not buy this but go directly to apple or a carrier.
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u/bravo_88 Oct 27 '24
Unfortunately we don't have Apple Store in Serbia, only authorized retailers and carriers which are crazy expensive, around 400-500dollars more than the original Apple USA price. The other option we have are these regular people resellers, they buy phones legally in other countries and then sell them here in Serbia and that's how they earn. Those prices are much better than carriers price, about 200$ more than original Apple price. Most of them are good and have positive reviews, but sometimes new sellers appear with no reviews so people must be careful.
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u/peterosity Oct 27 '24
that’s sad but my point still stands. if you cannot afford to lose that money, do not gamble. find a cheap but legit phone to buy.
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u/bravo_88 Oct 27 '24
Yes I agree, that's why I posted here it's also important to raise awareness and discuss.
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u/spac0r Oct 27 '24
off topic but how long does the average person have to work to buy a 1.2k iPhone in Serbia?
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u/bravo_88 Oct 27 '24
Currently, the average net salary in Serbia for July 2024 is approximately 900$. The median net salary, which better reflects the midpoint of income distribution, is 700$. This means that half of the employees earn less, and half earn more than this amount so you do the math 🤣
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u/spac0r Oct 27 '24
😂 I see. So are you a high earner or spending lots of money on the latest tech? 🤓
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u/bravo_88 Oct 27 '24
I do have higher income, but I upgrade every year cause I find it less expensive. I'll sell my 15 Pro, add about 250-300$ and buy 16 Pro. If I don't do that and time passes by, my 15 Pro would lose on its worth, and eventually I would have to pay much muuuch more at once for a new phone.
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u/IssyWalton Oct 27 '24
Fake. Those pull tabs are completely wrong. They don’t have dots on them.
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u/bravo_88 Oct 27 '24
They actually do have dots, u can see them in every unboxing video
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u/IssyWalton Oct 27 '24
The phone and ipad I just unboxed didn’t. Direct from Apple.
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u/Xe4ro Oct 27 '24
Maybe Apple differs between regions or models? The box of my 13mini had dots, I just checked some of them are still visible.
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u/bravo_88 Oct 27 '24
Take a look at one of the popular unboxings JerryRig
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u/IssyWalton Oct 27 '24
Erm…I took a look at what was in front of me. I report what my facts are.
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u/foraging_ferret Oct 27 '24
You could both be right. Packaging can vary by region. But there’s no point speculating.
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u/Dwerg23 Oct 27 '24
If you have to ask, you kinda know the answer…