These types of "budget" phones that Apple does are for people who can't/won't buy the flagship (because too expensive) but wouldn't buy something second-hand either.
There are a LOT of people like that. It is not rational at all; they would rather buy something shittier for their money than get more value. My grandparents are like that.
To buy in the second-hand market you need to have some knowledge about how phones compare in the first place, even if you use a platform that minimizes the risks.
So, it's not the same market at all, and Apple is pushing their luck even more with a pricing way too high for what is essentially a 3 years old phones at best (the chip makes little difference to the typical user of these phones).
It's entirely rational. I bought plenty of used phones, and even repaired them myself because I couldn't afford new ones. Would not do that again.
The risk of getting scammed, or getting a phone with issues is too high. Both have happened to me in the past. It can even be dangerous if someone swapped out the battery with a cheapo fire hazard. A lot of resale prices are also simply too high to be worth it.
Now imagine your grandparents. As you said, the exact model/chip doesn't matter, any phone is good enough. What they're buying is an appliance that will last at least the warranty period (2 years, EU), but likely much longer. Basically piece of mind at a fixed price. They won't get scammed (online) or ripped off (used in a physical store) if they buy directly from Apple.
They have a warranty up to one year, and any problem is resolved pretty quickly.
It’s not as cheap as trying your luck in the various 2nd hand sites but if you value safety and time it’s worth it. It still comes out much cheaper than anything brand new.
I bought quite a lot of phones on those platforms and the only time there was an issue (faulty touch layer on a display side) it was swapped within 3 days.
It’s irrational fear really. If anything those phones are rock solide because if they survived the first few years of their lives, unless there is an event they are very likely to have a long life (no faulty part, pre-tested); the only care is battery life if that wasn’t changed during refurbishing. But generally people who can benefit from those phone do just fine pushing the battery to the very end of its life so it doesn’t even matter that much. A non trivial amount of those phone end up there because they are fully financed after 2 years and the owner gets a new one. Sometimes you find one year old phone that were just swapped for the newest one because their owner is rich enough that he can’t be bothered to do a battery replacement and would rather have the newest model.
Some people are rich and many don’t have that much financial responsibility, people should take advantage of that, just saying…
They even tell you what the actual rate is in the fine print. It's just priced in: 17.49$ over 36 months comes out to 629$.
>Monthly payments shown are for customers who qualify to pay $0 Down, $17.49/mo. for36months; 0% APR. Retail Price: $629.99
