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A price far below what shops with a written warranty charge is a warning, but it does not prove a phone is fake. The seller's reputation does not prove it is genuine either. No single test settles it from a listing. Several checks need the device in your hand. We did not find documented cases of cloned iPhones in Chile for this guide, so the warnings below are general signs and not a list of Chilean scams.

How can you tell if an iPhone is genuine?

Before paying:

  • Compare the price with what specialist shops ask, which state their warranty on their site, and with what the model costs new. A "refurbished" iPhone at a fraction of that range is a warning, not a bargain.
  • Ask the seller for the model number and the device IMEI in writing. If they will not give them, move on to the next listing.
  • Look up the IMEI on a carrier's site. How to do it is in how to check an IMEI. Besides the homologation status, the lookup must report other reasons that determine the device's blocking (SUBTEL Res. Ex. 1.463).

With the device in your hand:

  • Dial *#06# and compare the IMEI with the one in Settings > General > About, and with the box and the receipt. They must match.
  • In Settings > General > About, the part number may carry two region letters before "/A". According to The Apple Wiki, a community site, LZ is Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, CL is Canada and Chile, LL is the United States, CH is China and ZD is Germany, the Benelux countries, Austria, France, Switzerland, Monaco and the United Kingdom. Compare it with the box label. Tap the part number to see Apple's A#### model number, which identifies the hardware variant. What each region means is in Chinese, American or European iPhone.
  • On the same screen, if the iPhone was repaired, "Parts and Service History" appears (since iOS 15.2). It shows whether the battery, screen, logic board or cameras have genuine Apple parts, unknown parts, unverified parts or parts used in another iPhone.
  • Erase the device (Settings > General > Transfer or Reset > Erase All Content and Settings) and confirm that on restart it does not ask for someone else's Apple ID. Apple says not to accept any used iPhone or iPad protected by Activation Lock. Third-party pages that claim to check it by IMEI have no confirmed accuracy.

What Reacondi's data shows

Reacondi compares prices and does not sell or touch devices. We reviewed 450 iPhone and Samsung listings with refurbished condition on Mercado Libre Chile on 25 September 2026 (300 from the iPhone search and 150 from the Samsung search, the first results each one returns, not the whole catalogue).

  • Prices ran from $60.000 to $1.588.411. The median was $490.000: $480.300 for Apple listings and $495.000 for Samsung.
  • By iPhone model, the medians were $203.072 for the iPhone 12 (16 listings), $384.250 for the 13 (35), $471.274 for the 14 (36), $609.318 for the 15 (25) and $842.792 for the 16 (35). Each figure mixes different storage sizes and grades, so it works as a reference and not as the price of a specific device.
  • On 30 September 2026, Reuse Chile showed a black iPhone 13 128 GB, refurbished, at $359.990, with $499.990 crossed out. Knasta showed a black iPhone 15 128 GB, refurbished, at $494.990.
  • 265 of the 450 listings (59%) carried Mercado Libre's international tag, and 100 came from official stores, 93 from Assurant Ecophone and 7 from Reuse. For the other 350 listings our data carries no seller name, so we do not know who sells most of what we reviewed.

A low price does not prove a device is fake. A very low price against the range above, with no shop behind it that states its warranty, is a reason to ask for the IMEI and the model before paying. Mercado Libre Chile requires every refurbished listing to state a warranty, and to enter its refurbished catalogue it asks for one of three grades (Excelente, Bueno or Aceptable) with more than 80% battery. We did not read what the platform verifies on each listing. A seller reputation measures fulfilment, and we do not know whether it measures authenticity.

Many of those devices come from abroad. A phone bought abroad and used with a Chilean SIM must be registered or it is blocked 30 days after first use, as explained in how to check an IMEI.

Warning signs before you pay

  • A price far below the range of specialist shops.
  • The seller will not give the IMEI or model number in writing.
  • They dodge the question of whether the device is genuine.
  • They ask you to pay outside the site where the listing is. We did not read Mercado Libre Chile's buyer protection terms, so ask what they cover, and know that a payment outside the site falls outside whatever the platform may cover.
  • They offer to "send the unlock" after payment. Do not accept it, because an iPhone tied to someone else's account can only be released by that person.
  • They present as working a device they actually sell "for parts".

If you already bought it

Keep everything, the packaging, photos of the package when you opened it, screenshots of the listing and the conversation. On an online purchase, a 10-day withdrawal period from receipt may apply, subject to exceptions (article 3 bis b of Ley 19.496), and 90 days if the shop did not send you the written confirmation of the contract. You must return the original packaging elements in good condition. After that, the shop warranty and whatever legal rights apply come into play, and if nobody answers you can complain to SERNAC online, at an office or on 800 700 100. The detail is in your rights when buying refurbished.

Sources

The Mercado Libre Chile data is a Reacondi reading of 25 September 2026 and the Reuse and Knasta prices are from 30 September 2026. They change daily. The Apple Wiki is a community source, not Apple's.