iPhone battery maximum capacity if unused

[davidll]

Hi all

Grateful for your thoughts.

I’ve bought a new(unused) iPhone SE 2020 recently which has been previously opened and is unboxed. I’ve discovered the battery maximum capacity is 84%. I’ve asked the vendor who has justified this by saying that normal degradation has caused this. I’m somewhat sceptical. Grateful for your wisdom on this
Thanks
David

[AB]

He's lying

[dickymint]

AB said:

He's lying

You sure about that?

[Vsix and Vtec]

Yes. Sounds like a refurbished phone not a new one.

[Defcon5]

The definition of ‘unused’ is taken very very loosely by auction site retailers

At best it’s ‘unused by an end customer for a significant period of time’

Often they are ex display, which have never been ‘used’, but have still been switched on and interacted with daily for the last 2 years!

[LeeM135i]

Have a 3 year old iPhone 12 Pro Max which is well used, charged every night to 100% and run down to 10% or less by the end of most days. It reports 85% maximum capacity. I would have thought the phone you are looking at has been used in a similar way.

[davidll]

Thanks. Very helpful. Will return it to the vendor

[davidll]

Out of interest, what percentage would be normal for a 3 year old (but new and unused ) phone?
Thanks

[TheLurker]

I would expect close to 100%.

[Ezra]

davidll said:

Out of interest, what percentage would be normal for a 3 year old (but new and unused ) phone?
Thanks

If it's supposed to be unused, the battery max capacity should surely be at or v close to 100%. If its been used regularly over last 3 years it's v likely to be 80-85%

[x5tuu]

They’re fibbing.

If you have a Mac, try coconut battery, else try this and it should tell you the number of cycles it’s been through:

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ios-tip-find-out-how...

[colin79666]

Another thing is what version of iOS did it come with? An unused 2020 se should be iOS 13-15. If it came with 16 or 17 already installed then it’s been used.

[davidll]

Thanks. I didn’t think to check the iOS version. It automatically updated to version 17 when I was swapping from Mh old phone to this one. Either way, I’m not going to accept the offer of a partial refund of £30 and will return for a full refund.

[the-norseman]

I've got a 2.5 year old iPhone XR from work, it was brand new in a sealed box when they gave it to me, its been used but not heavily, I have no social media etc installed on it. just checked thats showing 87% so yeh yours has been used.