Work out exactly which iPhone you have
Open Settings, then General, then About. Model Name gives the exact variant, whether that is mini, Plus, Pro, Pro Max or Air, and Capacity gives the storage tier. Those two fields settle most of the offer before anyone touches the phone.
The field below them, Model Number, starts with an A and identifies the regional variant. A GCC unit, a US model with no physical SIM tray and a Japanese unit with a shutter sound that cannot be muted are one phone to Apple and three different propositions to a resale desk. Include the A-number in your first message and the offer will not move when you arrive.
If the display is dead and you cannot reach Settings, bring the phone in anyway. We identify it in the office.
Battery health, screen and parts history
Settings, Battery, Battery Health & Charging shows Maximum Capacity as a percentage along with Peak Performance Capability. Once capacity has fallen far enough, iOS replaces that with a service message. Send us the percentage. It is a priced input rather than a pass-fail test, so a tired battery lowers the offer instead of ending the conversation.
Under Settings, General, About, recent models carry a Parts and Service History section. It reports whether the battery, display and camera are genuine Apple parts or show as Unknown Part. A third-party display normally costs True Tone and sometimes Face ID, and it always surfaces during inspection, so declare it rather than hoping.
The panel itself counts too: burn-in on the OLED, a green or pink line, dead touch zones, lifting at the frame edge. Each of those moves the number; none of them stops the sale.
Erase your iPhone the right way before selling
Back it up first, to iCloud or to a Mac. If you are moving to a new iPhone, run the transfer to the new device before you touch the old one. Erasing is permanent and there is no undo at our counter.
Then go to Settings, General, Transfer or Reset iPhone, and choose Erase All Content and Settings. Done that way, iOS signs you out of your Apple Account, switches off Find My and clears Activation Lock in the same operation. On eSIM models it asks whether to delete the eSIM: read that prompt rather than tapping through it, because your number lives there.
What not to do is force a restore from recovery mode, or hand over a phone you have only removed from your home screen. A device still tied to your Apple Account arrives Activation Locked and is worth a fraction of a clean one. If you would rather keep your data until the offer is confirmed, bring it as it is and erase at the desk.
Broken, cracked and water-damaged iPhones
We buy iPhones that will not power on, iPhones with shattered fronts, iPhones with the back glass gone, and units that have been in a pool. Back glass is worth flagging specifically: on the bonded rear panels of recent generations that is a serious repair rather than a cosmetic scuff, and the offer reflects it.
Other faults worth naming in your message are no service or no signal, Face ID that has stopped enrolling, a camera that rattles or will not focus, and a liquid contact indicator that has tripped. None of them close the door. They move the number, and a fault named in your first message is a fault already inside the quote.
Which iPhone generation are you selling?
The generation pages go deeper than this hub. Each covers the storage tiers that model shipped in, the faults it is known for, and what the market is paying now.
Storage runs from 128GB on the base models up to 1TB and beyond on the Pro Max line, and the tiers are not evenly spaced in value, because far fewer of the large ones were sold. That scarcity is what holds their price second-hand.
Generational features are the other lever. USB-C arrived with the 15, the Action button replaced the mute switch on the 15 Pro, titanium came in the same year, and the Dynamic Island started with the 14 Pro. A handset that sits on the right side of one of those changes holds value longer. The 17 line, including the Air and the 17e, is quoted the same way as everything else: model, storage, condition.