This iPhone 8 model costs $750 brand new, but a YouTuber bought a damaged one on eBay for $200 and completely restored it
- Australian YouTuber Hugh Jeffreys completely restored an Apple iPhone 8 he purchased in terrible condition on eBay for about $200.
- He had to buy some extra parts, like a new glass panel for the display, a new housing, and a new battery.
- Still, Jeffreys ended up with a 256GB iPhone 8 for much less than a brand new model from Apple, or even an Apple refurbished model.
Perhaps it's my recent obsession with watching car restoration videos on YouTube, but I found Australian YouTuber Hugh Jeffreys' restoration of a damaged iPhone 8 very satisfying.
Apart from satisfaction, it was also amazing that an iPhone in such bad shape could be cheaply purchased on eBay and restored to look brand new, and even customized with an exterior color that the iPhone 8 doesn't even come in.
What Jeffreys essentially ended up with is an iPhone 8 with 256GB of storage that cost him under $400 and a little bit of time. That's not a bad proposition when a brand new 256GB iPhone 8 costs $750 US. Even if you bought a 256GB iPhone 8 from Apple's refurbished store, it would cost you $630.
Check out what Jeffreys did and watch his video below:
Touch ID home buttons are exclusively paired with the iPhone they came with. A new Touch ID home button wouldn't work with the parts from the original iPhone 8 Jeffreys bought from eBay. Only Apple can replace a Touch ID home button, as it has the software that's needed to pair the new Touch ID home button to an iPhone.
The cost of the iPhone 8 from eBay and other parts he needed, like the housing and glass panel, came to a total of $390 AUS, which is about $278 USD.
Jeffreys did need to use specific tools from iFixit that cost $60 and weren't factored into the cost of restoring the iPhone. He also used a handy magnetic mat to keep all the screws and parts organized, which cost $20.
Assuming that most of us don't own a specialty toolkit from iFixit or a magnetic mat, the total cost of restoring the iPhone 8 is closer to $358. That's still just under $400 less than a brand new 256GB iPhone 8.
Buying a cheap damaged iPhone from eBay and restoring it seems like a great idea if you want an iPhone for much less than Apple sells it. But taking apart an iPhone and putting it back together is a pretty involved process — and not every damaged phone is damaged in the same way, so it could require more extensive repairs.
The bottom line: If you're planning on trying it out yourself for the first time, expect lots of trial and error, and potentially a totally non-functional iPhone.