Waiting for a refurbished iPhone 5 could save you $50 or more

If you’re looking to get a deal on an iPhone 5 but don’t want to pay full price, you may be able to save $50 if you wait a few months.

A new report by DealNews.com predicts deals on refurbished iPhone 5 models could start to show up as soon as January, and they’ll probably be marked down $50.

The site, which is a deal aggregator, points out that refurbished Apple devices can provide a lot of value because they are usually cheaper than their brand-new counterparts and they also come with warranties. In fact, Apple has a whole section in its online store dedicated to its refurbished models.

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The site draws its conclusions from the refurbished deal histories of the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S.

For the iPhone 4, it took only two and a half months for refurbished deals to begin showing up with $50 discounts. And because the phone came out in June, refurbished models were available by the time the holidays rolled around, some being marked down as much as $100.

But sadly, that probably won’t be the case for the iPhone 5 just as it wasn’t for the iPhone 4S, which came out last October.

It took four months before refurbished versions of the 32 GB and 64 GB iPhone 4S began showing up, marked down $50. Two months later, refurbished 16 GB iPhone 4S models finally began appearing and they too received the same discount.

It’ll probably be after the holidays before marked down iPhone 5 models start showing up. But if you absolutely want to save money, you could just give someone an IOU for $150 this season instead of a $200 iPhone 5.

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