A refurbished iPhone 13 Pro is worth it in 2026 if you want a 120Hz ProMotion screen and a 3x optical telephoto for roughly a third of what the phone cost new. On RefurbMe it starts at $322 against a $999 launch price ($334 for the cheapest unlocked 128GB unit), and it runs iOS 27, released on September 14, 2026. The one thing it will never get is Apple Intelligence, because that needs an A17 Pro chip and this phone runs an A15 Bionic.
RefurbMe's own tracking puts a number on how long this model took to become a bargain. The iPhone 13 Pro reached the refurbished market 119 days after Apple shipped it, against a median Time-to-Refurb of 68 days across every iPhone RefurbMe has tracked (as of 13 October 2026). Time-to-Refurb measures the days between Apple's release date and the first time a model appears in stock refurbished. Nearly five years of price decay have run since then, which is why a Pro flagship now sits under $350. [source: RefurbMe iPhone stats]
Buy it if you take photos. The 13 Pro was the generation that gave the Pro line a 3x optical telephoto, macro focus, and ProRes video, and none of that has been taken away by age. Pair that with the 10Hz to 120Hz ProMotion display and you get a phone that still feels like a flagship in the hand.
Skip it if you want Apple's on-device AI. Apple Intelligence requires an A17 Pro or newer chip, so the A15 Bionic in this phone is excluded permanently, not temporarily. (Wikipedia)
Skip it too if your needs are ordinary. A refurbished iPhone 13 starts at $200 on RefurbMe as of 13 October 2026, more than $100 below the Pro, and it handles messaging, browsing, and casual photography just as well. The Pro premium buys glass and silicon you have to actually use to justify.
Prices and stock on a five-year-old model move week to week, so check the live number before you commit. Compare current offers on the refurbished iPhone page.
A refurbished iPhone 13 Pro costs from $322 on RefurbMe, for a carrier-locked 256GB unit in fair condition from Back Market, verified against 37 live US configurations (114 offers) on 13 October 2026. That is 68 percent below the $999 launch price. The cheapest unlocked unit is a 128GB phone in good condition from eBay Refurbished at $334. The cheapest 1TB unit is $498, so the whole model spans roughly $320 to $500 at each storage tier's lowest price, depending on storage, grade, and carrier lock.
The record matters here as a floor test rather than a target. RefurbMe's lowest recorded price for the iPhone 13 Pro across its whole tracking history is $199, an eBay Refurbished listing, so today's $322 still sits well above the historical bottom and the price has not necessarily stopped falling.
| Model | New launch price | Refurbished from |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone 13 Pro (128GB) | $999 | $318 carrier-locked |
| iPhone 13 Pro Max | $1,099 | $364 carrier-locked |
| iPhone 13 (base) | $829 | $182 carrier-locked |
The bigger phone costs more. The cheapest iPhone 13 Pro Max on RefurbMe today is $368 in good condition and carrier-locked, $46 above the cheapest 13 Pro at $322. Our iPhone 13 Pro vs Pro Max comparison covers the size and battery tradeoff if the premium is worth it to you.
Prices also differ sharply by market, and RefurbMe tracks all three English-speaking ones separately.
| Market | Refurbished iPhone 13 Pro from | Live configurations |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $322 | 37 |
| United Kingdom | £250 | 18 |
| Canada | CA$599 | 5 |
Canada is the thin market of the three, with about a seventh of the US configuration count and a floor well above it. If you are shopping there, patience pays more than it does in the US.
Buy the 256GB. On most iPhones the advice runs the other way, because the base tier is far cheaper. On this model, as of 13 October 2026, the gap has collapsed: the cheapest unlocked 128GB unit is $334 and the cheapest unlocked 256GB unit is $369. Thirty five dollars for double the storage is the easiest upgrade decision in the whole listing.
| Storage | Cheapest unlocked listing | New launch price |
|---|---|---|
| 128GB | $334 | $999 |
| 256GB | $369 | $1,099 |
| 512GB | $402 | $1,299 |
| 1TB | $498 | $1,499 |
Read the second column against the third and the shape of a five-year-old market becomes obvious. The 1TB tier launched $500 above the 128GB tier and now sells for $164 more. Storage premiums evaporate faster than anything else on a used iPhone, because the buyers who needed 1TB in 2021 have long since moved on and their phones are now competing with everyone else's.
There is one hard reason to skip 128GB beyond price. ProRes recording at 4K30 is available only on the 256GB tier and above; the 128GB model is capped at ProRes 1080p at 30 fps. (Wikipedia) If you shoot video seriously, 512GB or 1TB earns its keep, because ProRes files fill 256GB within a week. For everyone else the extra capacity is money spent on a number in Settings.
Five refurbishers carry the iPhone 13 Pro in the US, and Apple is not one of them. Apple discontinued the model on 7 September 2022, and no Apple Store listing appears among RefurbMe's 114 live offers, so treat the $999 figure as a historical reference rather than a place to shop.
Back Market carries the deepest stock by a wide margin (86 of the 114 offers) and holds the overall floor at $322. It backs every unit with a one year warranty and a 30 day return window, and it grades openly, which is what lets you buy a fair-grade unit deliberately rather than by accident. eBay Refurbished has the cheapest unlocked unit, the $334 128GB phone mentioned above. Gazelle's cheapest is $342 and its inventory is simple and US focused. Amazon Renewed starts at $369, covered by the Amazon Renewed Guarantee, and Mac of All Trades has a single listing at $339.
That last name deserves a clarification. eBay Refurbished is eBay's vetted program, with graded conditions, a seller trust floor, 30 day returns, and warranty coverage. It is a different thing from buying a used phone from a stranger on the open eBay marketplace, which carries none of those protections.
Outside the US the lineup changes. British buyers get Back Market, MusicMagpie, Amazon Renewed, and eBay Refurbished; for this model, Canadian buyers get Amazon Renewed and Orchard. For a fuller read on each seller's strengths, see our guide to the best places to buy refurbished iPhones.
Yes. The iPhone 13 Pro runs iOS 27, which Apple released on 14 September 2026 with the same support list as iOS 26. (Apple) A phone that launched in September 2021 and is still collecting major OS releases in its sixth year is the strongest argument for buying an old Pro rather than a new budget model.
Apple typically gives iPhones six to eight years of major updates, and security patches continue for a stretch after the major releases stop. On that pattern the 13 Pro should keep receiving meaningful software into the late 2020s. Our guide to how long Apple supports iPhones walks through the full pattern across the lineup.
The exception is Apple Intelligence, and it is a permanent one. Apple requires an A17 Pro or newer chip for its on-device AI features, which means iPhone 15 Pro and later. The A15 Bionic in the 13 Pro will keep getting iOS updates and will never get those features, no matter how many versions ship. If Apple's AI stack is a requirement rather than a curiosity, this is the wrong phone and you should be looking at the iPhone 15 Pro Max refurbished instead.
Ask for the exact battery health percentage before you buy, aim for 90 percent or higher, and treat 85 percent as your walk-away floor. This is the single number that separates a good refurbished 13 Pro from a bad one, and any seller worth using will publish it.
The reason is a hard Apple specification. Apple designs iPhone 14 and earlier batteries to retain 80 percent of original capacity after 500 complete charge cycles under ideal conditions, against 1000 cycles on iPhone 15 and later. (Apple) A phone bought new in 2021 and charged daily has passed that 500 cycle mark comfortably, so the unit you buy has either been given a fresh battery or is running on a tired one.
Condition grades will not tell you which. Grade A, B, and C describe cosmetics only: no visible marks, light wear that a case hides, and visible scratches respectively. A grade B unit with a disclosed 92 percent battery is a better buy than a grade A unit with an undisclosed one, every time. Our guide to iPhone battery health explains what the number actually measures and when replacement is worth it.
The simpler route is to buy from a refurbisher that guarantees a minimum, commonly 85 or 90 percent, rather than plan on a battery replacement you then have to arrange yourself.
The three Pro generations sit on a ladder with one short rung and one long one: the 14 Pro costs $27 more than the 13 Pro, and the 15 Pro another $127.
| iPhone 13 Pro | iPhone 14 Pro | iPhone 15 Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chip | A15 Bionic | A16 Bionic | A17 Pro |
| Main camera | 12MP | 48MP | 48MP |
| Front cutout | Notch | Dynamic Island | Dynamic Island |
| Port | Lightning | Lightning | USB-C |
| Apple Intelligence | No | No | Yes |
| Refurbished from | $318 carrier-locked | $349 carrier-locked | $509 |
As of 13 October 2026 the floors are $322, $349, and $476. Twenty seven dollars buys the jump from the 13 Pro to the 14 Pro, which gets you a 48MP main sensor and Dynamic Island. Another $127 buys the 15 Pro, which brings USB-C, a titanium frame, and the A17 Pro chip that unlocks Apple Intelligence.
The 14 Pro step is the cheaper of the two, and at $27 it is hard to argue against. You gain resolution on one lens and a software flourish around the front camera, and you still have Lightning and no AI features. Our iPhone 13 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro comparison goes through it sensor by sensor.
The 15 Pro step is the one to consider seriously. It is the cheapest entry into Apple Intelligence, and it changes the port you will be living with for the rest of the phone's life. If the extra $154 over a 13 Pro is affordable, read our iPhone 13 Pro vs iPhone 15 Pro breakdown before deciding. For the wider field, our ranking of the best refurbished iPhones puts each generation in value order.
Run these checks the day the phone lands, while the return window is still open.
Anything that fails here is a return, not a repair project. Sellers vetted by RefurbMe include testing, warranty, and returns in the price, so these checks confirm the purchase rather than rescue it.
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Yes, if you want a 120Hz ProMotion display and a 3x optical telephoto without flagship pricing. On RefurbMe it starts at 322 dollars as of 13 October 2026, about 68 percent below its 999 dollar launch price, and it runs iOS 27. Skip it if you want Apple Intelligence, which needs an A17 Pro chip.
As of 13 October 2026 a refurbished iPhone 13 Pro starts at 322 dollars on RefurbMe across 37 live US configurations, and the cheapest 1TB unit is 498 dollars. In the UK the floor is 250 pounds and in Canada it is 599 Canadian dollars. Stock and prices move weekly, so check the live figure before buying.
Yes. It runs iOS 27, which Apple released on 14 September 2026. Apple gives most iPhones six to eight years of major updates, which puts the 13 Pro on track for meaningful software into the late 2020s.
No, and it never will. Apple Intelligence requires an A17 Pro chip or newer, which means iPhone 15 Pro and later. The iPhone 13 Pro runs an A15 Bionic, so it keeps receiving standard iOS updates without those AI features.
Aim for 90 percent maximum capacity or higher and treat 85 percent as your floor. Apple designed iPhone 14 and earlier batteries to hold 80 percent of capacity after 500 charge cycles, and a phone sold new in 2021 has passed that mark, so the cell has either been replaced or is worn. Insist on a disclosed figure and verify it in Settings when the phone arrives.
Check both prices before deciding. As of 13 October 2026 the cheapest 13 Pro Max on RefurbMe is 368 dollars, 46 dollars above the cheapest 13 Pro at 322 dollars. The Max gives you a 6.7 inch screen and longer battery life in a heavier body.
256GB, because the tier gap is unusually small on this model. As of 13 October 2026 the cheapest unlocked 128GB unit is 334 dollars and the cheapest unlocked 256GB unit is 369 dollars, a 35 dollar difference for double the space. Move up to 512GB or 1TB only if you record ProRes video.
Plan on three to four more years of comfortable use. The software runway reaches into the late 2020s given iOS 27 support and Apple's six to eight year update pattern, so the limiting factor is usually the battery rather than the operating system. One battery replacement during ownership is a reasonable expectation on a 2021 phone.
To compare every refurbished iPhone 13 Pro across trusted sellers in real time, head to the refurbished iPhone 13 Pro page and take today's best price.
Last updated: Oct 13, 2026 · First published: Aug 20, 2026
CEO and Founder at RefurbMe. I made this project back when I was 15 when I had to wake up at 2am to buy my own refurbished Macbook Pro. Passionate about circular economy, great UX and goats.
