At This Price, Can It Be Real?

[paddydubai]

A stall at MBK in Bangkok is selling the iPhone 32GB for 13,500 baht. In the official Apple stores it's 27k. The girl said it has a 12 month world guarantee. She said she'd also throw in a cover. I picked it up and played with it. It looked, felt and behaved like any other iPhone, although I admit I'm not overly familiar. The boxed packaging looked perfectly real.

I was going to buy one. We'd got as far as deciding which colour to take. She put two boxes on the counter, one black one white. Then I noticed that the boxes were a slightly different size, which set the alarm bells off and I declined. At that point she even offered to drop the price more.

My question is, do you think there is any possibility that they might be real? If so, how do they get them that cheap?

[rogerdee123]

That's about the right price for a 32GB iPhone 3 or 3GS.

If it was suppose to be a new iPhone 4, it was probably fake.

[paddydubai]

That's about the right price for a 32GB iPhone 3 or 3GS.

If it was suppose to be a new iPhone 4, it was probably fake.

Thanks for that. I'm fairly IT illiterate, so when I checked the price in the Apple store in Siam Paragon and saw it was 27k, I would

have been looking at an iPhone 4, right?

May I ask one more question - would there be any particular disadvantage in getting an iPhone 3 or 3GS? For that money, and assuming it is real, it seems like good value.

[nikster]

Get a 3GS, not a 3G - the 3GS is twice as fast, and since iOS 4 you pretty much need this processor speed. That is, a 3G with the new iOS is just dog slow. The 3GS also has a better camera.

I have never been too picky about my phone cameras in the past, but that's because they were crap. Newer iPhones have a camera good enough that I never take my small digital camera with me anymore. So I suddenly use my phone camera for all shots, and camera quality has become important. iPhone 4 is significantly better than the 3GS, but 3GS wasn't bad either.

If you really have to go and buy from a grey import place, make SURE it's a factory unlocked phone. That's very important. If you get a non-factory-unlocked one, the next operating system upgrade will render your phone useless. Factory unlocked means it's sold unlocked by Apple, and will never re-lock.

Check if the "Cydia" application is installed on the phone, and if it is, don't buy as that means it's jailbroken and potentially unlocked. Buy only from a store you trust, and get some guarantees that the phone is factory unlocked.

For the ultimate test, connect the phone to your computer, and do a factory restore - you want to do that anyway to remove all the settings and apps the store has put on the phone for you, to get a clean phone. If the phone still works after that, e.g. you are able to make phone calls, then it's factory unlocked and good to buy. If not, leave it!

The dealer will tell you all kinds of stories how their hacked, non-factory-unlocked phone is totally fine. Don't believe that. Or pay the price later. Your choice

Edited July 19, 2011 by nikster

[nikster]

PS A used factory unlocked 3GS should go for 11k baht or so, by the way. Maybe 12? The price you were quoted would be ok for 32GB, perfect condition, and factory unlocked, I think. Shop around.

New from the shop they're 17,900, see here http://www.truemove.com/iphone/en/price.html

But these new 3GSs have only 8GB of memory. Which is probably enough unless you have a large music collection or like to carry lots of videos and photos with you.

Edited July 19, 2011 by nikster

[paddydubai]

<br />PS A used factory unlocked 3GS should go for 11k baht or so, by the way. Maybe 12? The price you were quoted would be ok for 32GB, perfect condition, and factory unlocked, I think. Shop around.<br /><br />New from the shop they're 17,900, see here <a href='http://www.truemove.com/iphone/en/price.html' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.truemove....e/en/price.html</a><br /><br />But these new 3GSs have only 8GB of memory. Which is probably enough unless you have a large music collection or like to carry lots of videos and photos with you.<br />

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Thanks a lot, everyone. That's really useful.