Refurbished iOS devices from Apple generally come with new batteries. They replace the batteries in Macbooks if the existing battery is already defective. That doesn't mean it can't have 3 years of use on it already, and then fails 3 years sooner, it just means it's not already below the threshold for immediate replacement when you buy it.

You can check the charge cycle count on the battery, and have 14 days to return the device if it's a concern.

But how does that help? You don't expect it to be zero, you expect it to have 2-3 years worth of use on it because that's how old it is.

Apparently many of them are replaced. I found a thread on Reddit where a few people were saying they've bought refurbs and they often have 0 or 1 charge cycles on the batteries, indicating they were replacements.

So you, what, keep buying them and sending them back until you get one with a new battery? Even if that works for one person, it obviously doesn't work at scale because soon the ones they'd have left in inventory would be the ones without new batteries.

Is a brand new battery really the minimum acceptable standard for a refurb? If got a refurb and it had 6 months usage on the battery for example, I think I’d be fine with that.

3 years no, but given brand new batteries is reportedly a common experience for refurb buyers of laptops a lot younger than that it seems unlikely that actually ever happens.

> Is a brand new battery really the minimum acceptable standard for a refurb?

Of course not, it's a refurb, but that's the point. You know it's a refurb and you know it's not going to last as long as a new one. That's why the refurb sells at a discount.

> If got a refurb and it had 6 months usage on the battery for example, I think I’d be fine with that.

That's the other issue though. You can see the number of charge cycles but not e.g. how many times it was left in a car in the summer sun.