Basically nobody is selling recycled iPhones as if they were new. Apple has an impressive amount of control over their retail channels and buyers aren't idiots.

Basically nobody is selling recycled iPhones as if they were new. Apple has an impressive amount of control over their retail channels and buyers aren't idiots. The problem for Apple isn't that people would think their refurb iPhones were new, it's that Apple simply doesn't want poor people to have them because it might hurt their sale of 700$ computer wheels if they don't seem like a luxury brand. As a bonus, if they destroy all the broken devices, repair shops have no access to replacement parts and so there's nobody to challenge them when they tell you to buy a new 1000$ phone because yours has an "irreparable" bent flex cable pin.