A Modern Classic
When it was released in 2017, the iPhone 8 was the class leader in smartphones. With Apple’s trademark style and timeless look, the iPhone 8 also offered a brand new A11 Bionic chip processor, a 12MP camera and a crystal clear 4.7-inch Retina HD display. Like its predecessor from the year before, the iPhone 7, the iPhone 8 was a smash hit with both customers and the press, with critics describing it as a ‘triumph of engineering’ as they heaped near-universal praise on it.
Like previous, and successive models, the iPhone 8 was a massive success and continued Apple’s winning streak of smartphone launches, becoming one of the best-selling smartphones of all time.
Of course, the iPhone 8 is now a five-year-old design, and the world has moved on with newer designs. But, given that refurbished phones are becoming an increasingly popular choice the question can be asked: Is it worth buying a Refurbished iPhone 8 in 2022?
Solidly Supported
It’s okay to admit it – most people want a new phone rather than an older model. Unlike a classic car, there’s only so long you can keep using an old phone before it becomes obsolete, and five years after its launch is a long time to expect a phone to keep up with the pack.
That being said, Apple has maintained a high level of support for the iPhone 8. While the phone launched with iOS 11, it has received consistent upgrades throughout its lifetime and is currently running the much more recent iOS 15. It’s expected that the iPhone 8 will receive its final upgrades in 2022 with the leap to iOS 16, and while it’s older hardware may have trouble with the most demanding apps, it’s still a solid platform for everyday use.
While the upgrade to iOS 16 is expected to be the iPhone 8s’ last major upgrade, the operating system will continue to receive upgrades of its own, keeping the firmware current for at least a year after launch. Even after the OS stops being updated, it should still have a good few years of lifespan, giving you one of the best phones in history for a substantial amount of time!
An Oldie But A Goodie
The iPhone 8 may be getting a little long in the tooth compared to some of its more recent contemporaries, but it’s important to remember that the gaps between phone generations have been getting smaller and smaller as the cycle of phone launches has gotten more frequent. While an iPhone 8 may not be able to take advantage of some of the most up-to-date features that iOS 16 has to offer, it can still run most of the features you will use on a daily basis.
So, is the iPhone 8 worth picking up in 2022? That depends entirely on you. If you need laptop-grade performance from your phone, then you’ll need something more recent, but if you want a good, solid phone that has a reputation as one of the best ever, you can do far worse than picking up a refurbished iPhone 8!