If you’re trying to buy a new iPhone but don’t really want the iPhone 17, it can be difficult to find something on a tight budget. Sure, Apple offers the iPhone 16e for $599 \u2014 but not everyone finds that a compelling phone. Fortunately, there are many great options if you’re looking to buy used, and I’ll be exploring five great options for a variety of needs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n If you’re after top end features like the ProMotion display, Apple Intelligence, and telephoto lens – the iPhone 15 Pro is the best choice, assuming your budget allows it.<\/p>\n It uses the A17 Pro chip (which was used in the latest generation iPad mini) – making it great for Apple Intelligence features, and giving you plenty of power for years to come.<\/p>\n At the time of writing, you can pick up an unlocked 128GB iPhone 15 Pro on Amazon Refurbished for $596, making it cheaper than the new iPhone 16e, while packing tons of premium features. If you’re into the bigger screen size, you can get an unlocked iPhone 15 Pro Max with double the storage for $90 more, at $685 \u2014 though that’s a bit out of budget.<\/p>\n If you’re looking for the cheapest iPhone with USB-C or Dynamic Island, the iPhone 15 is a good choice. You get a great 48MP camera sensor, and if you’re a dumb switch – the iPhone 15 is the last iPhone to offer that. Battery life is absolutely stellar, and it has a pretty compelling color range.<\/p>\n Right now you can pick up an unlocked 128GB iPhone 15 for $470 on Amazon Refurbished, making it a sub-$500 option to get the perfect iPhone package. If bigger phones are your jam, you can get the 128GB iPhone 15 Plus for $480.<\/p>\n If you are a fan of small phones, the iPhone 13 mini remains the best option for you – since Apple decided to stop making small iPhones. It’s still quite capable of its A15 Bionic chip, though you’ll have to stick with the Lightning charging port. In any case, thanks to its beautiful 800 nit OLED display and fantastic camera system, this phone should not feel out of date, despite being four years old.<\/p>\n The iPhone 13 mini currently fetches around $260 for the 128GB configuration, making it one of the cheapest iPhones to pick up on this list \u2014 and it’s pretty special.<\/p>\n On the other hand, if you’re looking for a large iPhone that’s very cheap (at least, not too old) – the iPhone 14 Plus is always the best choice. It has a strong camera system, and even stronger battery life – with a strong range of colors, including a stunning yellow finish. This phone succeeds the previously mentioned iPhone 13 mini.<\/p>\n There’s not much to say about the iPhone 14 Plus – it’s a solid device that will do everything you could want from a large iPhone tested. Right now, you can get one for around $349 on Amazon Renewed, making it a really great value option.<\/p>\n As a respectable name, you can also consider the iPhone 13 Pro Max – which will offer advanced features for enthusiasts, such as ProMotion, a telephoto camera lens, and a stainless steel construction. Those fetch around $437 for 128GB.<\/p>\n Finally, the iPhone SE 3. It packs an A15 chip and 5G, making it a suitable phone for 2025 – even though it comes in a more compact form factor. You’ll still have a 4.7-inch LCD screen and home button, just like the iPhone 8. And you’ll only have one rear camera. That said, if you only want your iPhone to do the bare essentials, the iPhone SE 3 can be had for much cheaper.<\/p>\n For just $149, you can get the iPhone SE 3 from Amazon Renewed. If you’re looking for an iPhone, this is as cheap as they’re going to get, and it still stacks up well. 64GB of storage might be a bit tight, so you can opt for 128GB for $192 if you think that will work better for you.<\/p>\n Check out exclusive free trials of Apple services:<\/strong><\/p>\n Follow Michael: X\/Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram<\/em><\/p>\n \t\t\t FTC: We use auto affiliate links to earn income.<\/em> More.<\/p>\n If you’re trying to buy a new iPhone but don’t really want the iPhone 17, it can be difficult to find something on a tight budget. Sure, Apple offers the iPhone 16e for $599 \u2014 but not everyone finds that a compelling phone. Fortunately, there are many great options if you’re looking to buy used, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-smartphones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1356,"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354\/revisions\/1356"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aura-node.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}#1 – iPhone 15 Pro<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/04\/iphone-15-pro-colors.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1024\")
<\/figure>\n#2 – iPhone 15<\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/The-three-best-selling-smartphones-in-the-world-are-last-years-iPhones.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1024\")
<\/figure>\n#3 \u2013 iPhone 13 mini<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/01\/The-Rewind-iPhone-SE-vs-iPhone-13-mini.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1024\")
<\/figure>\n#4 \u2013 iPhone 14 Plus<\/h2>\n
![\"Poll:](\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/03\/iPhone-14-yellow.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1024\")
<\/figure>\n#5 \u2013 iPhone SE 3<\/h2>\n
![\"iPhone](\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/03\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-08-at-1.08.59-PM.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1024\")
<\/figure>\n
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\n\t\t\t![\"Add](\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/google-preferred-source-badge-light.png\"){kind=icon}
<\/p><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/10\/imazing-banner.png\")
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