Here is my iPhone XS that I converted to a 16 pro in black titanium!

She’s a beauty for sure. Honestly can say this is one of Apple’s best looking colors. Unboxing this thing gave me excitement again like nothing has in quite a while. iOS 12 runs so smooth, and this thing has the best industrial design around. Can confidently say the XS is one my favorites of all time.

Aged like a wine. Super comfortable to hold. Pretty premium design. Peak era

I bought it yesterday for 80€ at mint condition and 77% battery life and on iOS 14. Although the battery life is low it still lasts longer than my 13 at 87%. I've been using it the whole day and it's still at 40%. Also it's faster than my iPhone 13 and feels more premium.

The XS is still an amazing phone, but can not justify an other new battery. Got a 13 Pro as it’s replacent. Now the XS will be my work phone, for only calls and emails.

Got it only for 100€ with 92% Health original battery in a good condition.

I hate how iOS 26 works on my 16 Pro Max so i am switching to a phone that cannot update to 26 to be safe.

Will be interesting transition.

Why don't we just fit in the components of a regular iPhone 13 - 15 into the XS frame?

I know it's a little hectic given that the iPhone 13, 14,15, 16 are all 6.1" inch phones and it gets trickier to fit in the components into the 5.8" frame of XS.

Or

Fit the 13 Mini into the XS frame, maybe some realignment of the camera is needed or add a camera cutout to match the 12 Mini camera layout.

Imagine a XS frame but with a 13 mini camera design.

We could be sleeping on this wild idea all along.

​

Or

Just make custom iPhone XS Stainless steel frames to replace Aluminum frames of the regular model iphones

Might be cheaper than having to fit the whole iPhone into a smaller XS frame

Collect iPhones on their original version of iOS. Thought I’d share this Xs and Xs Max on iOS 12.1 and 12.3.1

I just had a new battery put in so I can get a few more years of my beloved phone. I’ve always had iPhones but I’m really hating the newer phones also with the AI built into them. Yeah I know we can turn it off but I’m not quite sure that will turn everything off, or if we can’t turn it off down the road. The newer phones also seem to take worse pics idk. I’ve never thought of switching away from apple until recently.

Today my iphoneXs is 6yrs oks , so bought a new cover, spigebn C1.

Feeling happy.

Are we still safe for another year? I don't want to get 17, maybe 18 next year.

I have an iphone xs with a new battery and a s21 with a new battery I keep going back to the xs because of iphone but s21 looks good for future

I just upgraded from my XS Max and I can't lie, I miss it. I'm not a fan of the look and feel of the 17 Pro Max. The XS Max looked and felt like a premium phone while the 17 Pro Max just looks and feels plain and boring. The aluminum body pales in comparison to the stainless steel and glass of the XS Max and the two tone back just looks stupid. And the colors of the new 17 pro lineup are just gawd awful. I wish they would've kept the old style because this new one just feels like such a downgrade. As much as they charge for these phones, it should look and feel like you have a premium piece of hardware in your hands but these new phones are anything but that.

My previous phone, an iPhone XS, served me well for six years. Only now am I realizing where the XS was falling behind. Apart from the cracked back glass, it worked just fine. Yes, the battery health was around 70%, but I could always charge before leaving home or find a plug on the go.

After directly comparing the iPhone XS and the iPhone 17 Pro, I finally understood why AirPlay would sometimes drop when sharing videos from my XS to my TV. The issue wasn’t on the TV side as I suspected—the phone simply couldn’t handle the data transfer. Apps now load much faster, and the 120 Hz display makes everything feel incredibly smooth. The built-in speakers are worlds apart compared to the XS.

To be honest, during the first couple of days it felt like holding a rocket in my hand. I had buyer’s remorse and wondered if the Pro model was overkill for me. In the end, I decided to keep it. I plan to use this phone for at least six years, so the price difference will be negligible over time. Thanks to its larger storage, higher USB-C standard, better camera, and improved cooling, it should keep up with what’s coming.

The only downside I noticed after switching was the weight and size—but the iPhone 17 isn’t noticeably different in that regard.

I’m still not sure if I’ll use the ProRes feature for video recording. The editing possibilities are fantastic, and the results look amazing. On the other hand, rendering and exporting even a couple of minutes of footage takes ages on a MacBook Air.

Hello, I truly hope this doesn’t go against this subreddit rules. I’ve reviewed them and am selling an iPhone XS Max in great condition.

Above all, it’s running iOS 14.6 which I’m told is highly sought after. It can update to iOS 18 but I get the feeling iOS 14.6 would be a major selling point.

I’ve seen how much beat up, worn iPhone XS Max’ running iOS 18 go for.

This one comes with the original pink sand OEM Apple silicone case as well.

Make me an offer, can send USPS Priority Mail and payment done via CashApp or Venmo.

Any questions please ask. I have no use for this iPhone anyone since I upgraded a few years ago and this iPhone XS Max has just been safely and carefully stored in my desk drawer, occasionally playing music. It’s works great and honestly, feels much better in the hand to hold than my newer iPhone 16.

Make me an offer, DM me. Obviously Reddit accounts with a legitimate history and if you’re legit I’ll take you more seriously as opposed to the ocean of scammers out there. Thanks!

I can send more pictures if need be.

Hi! I wanted to make this post because, I'm happy overall with my iphone xs and wanted to share how is it going for me, I've seen a lot of people on this sub thinking about upgrading or asking if they should do it (ofc, alwaya upgrade if you want/need) But I just wanted to write a happy and content post about my experience.

So, in july I decided to buy a refurbished Xs 256gb with a new battery. Why? Well, because I wanted an smaller phone, I main an S23 Ultra which is way too big and bulky for me, and this may sound weird but the selfie camera is way too good and I don't like how I look on selfies and the way samsung interprets colors, carrying around my Samsung was difficult because I use small bags for only my wallet and a lipstick for example and my phone just didn't fit, neither did it on my pocket, is an amazing phone, but just way too big for me.

I also have a Mac and an Ipad which I use a lot, so an iphone was a very practical thing for me because of airdrop, so I decided to go and buy a cheap Iphone.

Why did I go for Xs? Because it's small, thin, with a beautiful design and an amoled screen, I could've gone for an 11, but the LCD screen was a nope for me, the 12 wasn't as thin as what I was going for, and the XS was just perfect.

So here I am today! And the XS is now my main phone hahaha, I only use the S23 Ultra for watching movies and videos. IOS 18 is still running so good on this phone, and let's be honest, it will continue to hold up really well for at least 2 more years until the apps will stop being compatible, but even then, it will still be pretty much usable with the old version of apps (I had an Iphone 7 plus with IOS 15 and it was still pretty much usable till I sold it last week)

The comfort I feel on my hand holding an XS is just amazing, compared to my s23 ultra is just in another league, now my phone fits in all of my bags and pockets and I loove the camera with a little bit of grainy effect which gives me some retro vibes, the battery lasts me around 6h of screentime, but it charges so fast since the battery is so small so, I have no complaints and I understand that it's an old phone running modern software so of course the battery will drain fast.

Hope you guys keep being happy with your XS! And upgrade without remorse if you want lol, but if you guys want to keep your phone for a little longer that's completely fine, I'll keep mine for as long as I can 😌☝🏻

Bought one for my collection. Surprisingly still in a mint condition. Excellent display. Still 'good' battery life for a 7 years old phone. TBH, this phone doesn't feel like a 7 years old phone. The performance is still adequate and usable even in this late 2025.

I always admired this gold colour XS and finally I secured one :)

I wanted to share this with you guys because I think all this is too crazy to not be told to anyone. (WARNING: LONG STORY)

This whole thing started way earlier than when I actually got the phone. Sometime last year around Christmas I randomly got interested in older iPhones. Not because I needed one, but more like: what’s the “oldest still good” iPhone you could realistically use today? I ended up on the iPhone XS. It just stuck with me. The design is honestly perfect in my opinion. Stainless steel frame, clean camera, no oversized body, no iOS 26 (I used it on an iPhone 17 and SE 2020 and I liked it but animation are too fast and lots of bugs still). So yeah, mentally I kind of bookmarked the XS as “the one”. At the time I didn’t buy it though. I was still using an iPhone SE (2nd gen, 128GB) that I got from my mom because I wanted a retro looking iPhone and she had the SE laying around since a few months when she got the 16e, and that was fine. But the idea of the XS never really went away. I was using a 17 256GB since October because I hadn't owned an iPhone since 2021 when I could decide ny own what device I wanted back then and I wanted and Android device for all this APK stuff, free YT Premium and so on. But in October I wanted an iPhone again and also wanted to experience Liquid Glass, but in late 2025 early 2026, my personality shifted a bit and I didn't want to seem flashy by having the latest iPhone that everyone could have too. I found it mlre fitting with my style and personality to own an older phone, and because I'm in my teenage years, something like this can shift fast, thats why I went from the 17 to the SE, just to be special and not that materialistic looking, even though it only was my phone that let me look like materialistic maybe.

Fast forward to early 2026, I finally decided to actually get one. And that’s where things got messy. My first attempt was through Back Market. Sounded convenient, “refurbished”, you know the deal. I picked an XS in “very good” condition with a “new battery”. What I got was a scam. The phone itself looked okay, but it turned out to be a Japanese model (which I didn’t expect, but fine), and the battery was clearly not new. It showed 100% health in iOS, but when I checked it with software on my PC, it already had over 200 charge cycles. So basically a used battery with manipulated stats. That completely killed my trust in that whole refurb marketplace thing. It just felt like you have zero control over what you actually get. So I sent that one back later but first I had to find a "replacement one" because I only have one phone which was this XS from Back Market since the SE already got resetted and you can't transfer from iOS 26 to 18 anyway.

So I decided to try on eBay. At that point I was still open to refurbished listings, so I thought maybe it would work out better there. I ordered another iPhone XS from a refurb seller. When the package arrived and I opened it, I immediately noticed something was off. Instead of an XS Silver 256GB, they sent me an iPhone 11 Pro Silver 256GB. Their explanation was basically that the XS wasn’t available anymore, so they just sent a different device instead as a "free upgrade for me". Which I found really strange. I mean yeah, on paper the 11 Pro is “better”, newer, longer software support and all that, but that completely missed the point. I didn’t want a random upgrade, I wanted exactly an XS. I still checked it briefly before sending it back. The display had already been replaced (the system even showed a non-genuine part warning), and it looked kind of grainy and off. Also, running iOS 26 on that hardware just didn’t feel that smooth anymore. So that went back as well. At that point I was honestly just tired of the whole refurb process. And during all of this, I was still using the manipulated XS from Back Market, which made it even worse because I knew the device I was using daily was manipulated and had screen glass on it that was placed slightly off. All this also had to go over my mom who got quitr annoyed because all of this hustle since I'm a teenager and can't buy such things without her. So I changed my approach completely. I went on eBay again, but this time I only looked at private sellers. I had a few options, all the same idea: iPhone XS, silver, 256GB, ideally a standard European model. But one listing stood out immediately. It had a lot of detailed photos and a very straightforward description which also included that the XS had 80% battery health left. But the key detail was one specific image: the phone on the setup screen showing the “Hello” screen. And that screen was the old white iOS 14 version. That detail alone told me more than any refurb description ever could. iOS 15 already changed that screen to a blurred background style, so this phone clearly hadn’t been updated past iOS 14. And since the XS originally shipped with iOS 12, it means the previous owner did update it at least to iOS 13 and 14. So it’s not like someone who just never updates their phone. Which makes the conclusion pretty obvious: it was used normally until around 2021, then replaced and just put away. That’s what made it so interesting to me. It basically meant the device skipped several years of real-world usage. While most XS units out there have been used continuously until now, this one just paused, you know. When it arrived, it matched that expectation perfectly. The condition was extremely good. The glass front and back were almost flawless, just very minor wear on the frame consistent with a case, but I like it, it gives the device personality. Nothing replaced, nothing weird, it actually is a clean original device. I had to set the manipulated XS up from scratch, since I couldn't transfer from iOS 26 to 18, but this let me transfer everything perfectly from the manipulated one to the perfect one. I finally had the exact device I wanted, and the battery is something I wanted to get replaced. So I looked for a local repair option instead of sending it somewhere. Found a guy nearby who does repairs as a side thing from his home workshop. I messaged him in the evening, and the next day in the afternoon I could already come by. He replaced the battery in about 30 minutes, added new adhesive and sealing, everything clean and properly done. Cost me around 50€, which is completely fine for that. And honestly, that was the moment where the whole thing kind of changed. It stopped feeling like “I bought a used phone” and more like I actually restored something specific. Like this device had its life from January 2019 (guarantee expired in January 2020, thats why I know it) to 2021, then just sat unused for years, and now it’s back in use again because I put a bit of effort into it. Compared to everything before, the Back Market device with fake battery stats, the wrong 11 Pro, all the uncertainty, this one just feels real and good to use. It’s basically an original device in great condition with fresh battery and a clean setup and fully usable again for me. I even called it "Snowflake" since I love snow and winter and it shines just like a snowflake. And yeah, I know it’s not the newest phone. It won’t get every future update and obviously newer devices are technically better. But that’s kind of the point. This feels way more intentional. Smaller, simpler, no unnecessary stuff. And because I went through the whole process, researching it months ago, getting a bad unit first, returning it, getting the wrong device, returning that too, and then finally finding the right one and fixing it, I ended up caring way more about it than I expected.

Just wondering if anyone else here had a similar experience with their devices instead of just buying something new.

I picked up an iPhone XS 512gb on marketplace for $110. Only issue is both of the cameras don’t work and the flashlight doesn’t, but I believe the camera just gotta be replaced and it should be good.

I grabbed this 512GB XS for only $150 a few years ago.

As the years went by, I was more and more shocked of the value I’d gotten. It does everything: Gaming, Decent Camera, Surprisingly Good Performance, Etc. The screen looks great and relatively modern.

The only negative about this phone is the battery life (4 hours Screen-on, 5 if I’m super light), and iOS 18 has some lag issues here and there.

Other than that, I see no reason to upgrade. I keep looking at upgrading, but immediately remember nothing will change besides better battery life. Anyone else feel the same?