How to identify which Apple iPhone you have

Rating: bargains to be had after iPhone 5 comes out

A whole bunch of Apple fanboys will be upgrading to the latest iPhone model in the near future. That’s if the rumours that the Cupertino based maker actually introduces an iPhone 5 next month [September 2012], are true. Which means there will be a healthy number of older iPhones kicking around for very little dosh [money]. For the newbie, however, how to you identify which model you’re being offered? And more to the point, how do you find out how much storage it boasts?The first step is to turn the handset over and printed on the back is Model A****. For example, an iPhone 3GS is A1303 and an iPhone 4 is A1332.

GoMobile News found the number displayed in a chart on the Apple support site here. We’ve reprinted the information below to help you out.

Next you need to know if the handset has 8, 16, 32, or 64 GB of storage. The only effective way to check we’ve found is to power the handset on.

Next find the ‘Settings icon and select that. If you can’t see the ‘General’ option immediately, scroll down and select it.

Now check ‘About’ and there will be a figure next to the word ‘Capacity’.

Just to confuse you, that figure won’t bear any resemblance to the five possibilities named above. That’s because it’s a reference to spare capacity.

So on a very basic 8 GB model, it will probably say something like 6.2 GB. Similarly on a 32 GB model it will probably say 28.5 GB.

Now here’s the catch. Under ‘About’ the handset will tell you which network it is connected to. But what if there’s no SIM card in the phone? You’d better check with the owner because although it is possible, it isn’t advisable to unlock an iPhone for any network.

Now the later iPhone models have the micro SIM card. Now you can contact a network operator like 02 over the Net and the company will send you a microSIM along with instructions on how to migrate from the traditional SIM card.

A lot faster method is to go into a High Street phone repair shop and get them to cut the SIM done to size. They should charge no more than £2 for this.

Now, how do you calculate how much to pay for the second hand iPhone. We’d recommend going onto a mobile phone recycling price comparison chart such as Sellmymobile.

At this point in time our iPhone 3GS with 8 GB capacity is worth just £67.

Look through the list of purchasers because you might find you’d prefer to go with Boots the Chemist which would offer you 6,400 points instead of the folding stuff.

Happy shopping.

Icon	Model	Year Introduced	Model Number*	Capacity
	iPhone 4S	2011	A1387	16, 32, and 64 GB
	iPhone 4S (GSM China)	2011	A1431	16, 32, and 64 GB
	iPhone 4 (CDMA model)	2011	A1349	8, 16 and 32 GB
	iPhone 4 (GSM model)	2010	A1332	8, 16 and 32 GB
	iPhone 3GS (China)	2009	A1325	8, 16 and 32 GB
	iPhone 3GS	2009	A1303	8, 16 and 32 GB
	iPhone 3G (China)	2009	A1324	8 and 16 GB
	iPhone 3G	2008	A1241	8 and 16 GB
	iPhone	2007	A1203	4, 8, and 16 GB
* You can find the model number on the iPhone’s back case.