The best refurbished phones under £200 in 2026

Under £200 is where refurbished makes the most sense: a phone that cost £700–800 new, now at a quarter of the price, with years of updates left. It's also where the traps are — phones that are about to lose support, batteries at the end of their life, storage that's already full. These are the ones worth buying in 2026, at the prices we actually sell them for, and the one rule for each.

Best all-rounder: iPhone 12 — from about £200

The pick, sitting right on the line. OLED screen, 5G, MagSafe, a genuinely good main camera, and iOS 26 with support expected into 2027. It looks and feels like a modern iPhone because the design didn't change until the 15. The 64GB base is tight for photos — go for 128GB if it's within budget. Battery health matters more here than on any other pick: a 12 is four years old, so check the percentage and treat anything under 85% as a £60 replacement in the price. See iPhone 12 stock.

Best value: iPhone 11 — from about £160

£40 less than the 12 for most of the experience. The screen is LCD rather than OLED and there's no 5G, but the A13 chip is still quick, the dual camera is very good in daylight, and the battery is bigger than the 12's — a well-kept 11 often outlasts a 12 on a charge. It's on iOS 26 today; expect it to be the next to drop, so this is a two-to-three-year phone. Perfect first phone or backup. Stock comes and goes — see what is live in the shop.

Best small phone: iPhone SE (2022) — from about £145

The cheapest way into a current-ish iPhone. It has the iPhone 13's A15 chip in the old 4.7-inch home-button body, so it's fast and will get updates for years — longer than the 11 or 12 — but the screen is small and the single camera is dated. If you want Touch ID, a compact phone, or a phone for someone who finds big screens awkward, nothing else under £200 comes close. See iPhone SE stock.

Just over the line: iPhone 13 and Pixel 8

If you can stretch to £220–250, two phones change the picture. The iPhone 13 (from about £250) adds a much better camera, a bigger battery and two more years of support over the 12 — the best value iPhone full stop. The Google Pixel 8 (from about £220) is the Android pick: seven years of updates from 2023, the best camera at the price, and a clean OS. Both are on our shop page.

What to check before you buy under £200

Battery health, stated as a number — under £200 is exactly where sellers go quiet about it. Storage: 64GB is tight, 128GB is comfortable. iOS support: check the model still gets major updates (all three picks above do as of iOS 26). Network lock: unlocked or it isn't a bargain. A warranty and a returns window — we give 12 months on faults and 30 days to change your mind. And a seller who tests it: every phone we sell is function-tested and IMEI-checked before it ships.

Our full buyer's checklist goes through each of these in detail.

• Battery health stated as a number, not described as ‘good’.
• Warranty length in writing. Twelve months is common; ours is 24.
• Whether the grade is published, and what it means.
• That it is unlocked, unless you specifically want it locked to a network.
• Storage — 64GB is tight in 2026, even on a cheap phone.