iPhone Condition Grades Explained: What A, B, C and D Mean

After the model and the storage, condition is the biggest thing that moves the price of a used iPhone. Every buyer sorts phones into grades, but every buyer words them a little differently, which is why the same phone can get a different number in two places.

Here is exactly how we grade at iPhones.LA, what each grade looks like in your hand, and how to grade your own phone before you ask for a price. An honest grade up front is what keeps the offer from changing when we see the phone.

Our four grades

A battery at 79% health or below is a flat $20 off at any grade. It does not change the grade.

In plain terms:

• A looks new. You have to hunt for a mark under a bright light and still come up empty.
• B has been used and looks it a little: a few light scratches or a small mark, nothing you would notice from across a table.
• C has heavy wear, or damage to one panel: a cracked back or a cracked front screen, but not both, or damage to the frame.
• D has both panels cracked, any damage to the display itself, or a bent frame.

Damaged phones are still bought. Damage lowers the grade and the offer. It does not mean the phone is worthless.

How to grade your own iPhone

You need a bright light, a soft cloth and about five minutes.

1. Take off the case and screen protector if you can. A protector hides scratches and can also look cracked when the glass under it is fine.
2. Wipe the front and back clean. Fingerprints look like scratches under a lamp.
3. With the screen off, tilt the phone under the light and look across the glass at an angle. Scratches show up best on a black screen.
4. Turn the screen on and open a plain white image at full brightness. Look for lines, dots, patches of color or a faint ghost image. Then do the same with a plain black or dark gray image.
5. Check the back glass and the camera lenses the same way.
6. Run your finger around the frame and look at the corners for dents, chips and gouges.
7. Lay the phone flat on a table, screen up and then screen down. A phone that rocks or leaves a gap under one end may be bent.
8. Check the battery health (more on that below).

Then pick the grade that matches the worst thing you found. One deep gouge in the frame outweighs a spotless screen.

What each grade looks like in practice

Grade A

Clean glass front and back, clean frame, no visible wear. A phone that lived in a case with a screen protector from day one often lands here. If you found one faint hairline you can only see at an angle, be honest and call it B.

Grade B

Light, everyday wear. A few light scratches on the screen or back, a small scuff on a corner, a small mark on the frame. Everything works and nothing is cracked.

Grade C

Any one of these makes a phone grade C:

• Heavy wear: lots of scratches, scuffs across the screen, worn corners all the way around.
• A cracked back glass with a working, uncracked screen.
• A cracked front screen with an intact back, as long as the display under the crack works normally.
• Frame damage, such as dents or gouges along the edge.

Grade D

Any one of these makes a phone grade D:

• Both the front screen and the back glass are cracked.
• Any damage to the display itself, even with no crack in the glass.
• A bent frame.

Why a screen with lines and no crack is grade D

This is the rule that surprises people. A phone can have perfect glass and still be grade D, because the display is a separate layer under the glass. A drop or pressure can damage that layer without breaking the glass on top.

The signs are:

• Lines: a thin green, pink, white or black line running across or down the screen.
• Dots: bright or dark spots that stay in the same place whatever is on screen.
• Color bleed: a patch of color or a glow spreading in from an edge or a corner.
• Burn-in: a faint ghost of the keyboard, the status bar or an app's layout that stays visible on a plain white or gray screen.

To a buyer, a phone with a green line and flawless glass needs the same thing as a phone with a shattered screen: a new display. That is why both sit in the same grade. If you see any of these, choose grade D and tell us what you see. Being clear about it up front means no surprise in person.

Battery health is separate from the grade

A worn battery does not change the grade. Instead, a battery at 79% health or below is a flat $20 off, whatever the grade. A clean grade A phone with a tired battery is still grade A. It just comes in $20 lower.

To check it:

• iPhone 15 and later: Settings > Battery > Battery Health.
• iPhone 11 through iPhone 14: Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging.

Look at Maximum Capacity. Apple says iPhone 14 and earlier batteries are designed to keep 80% of their original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles under ideal conditions, and iPhone 15 and later at 1,000 cycles. Real phones vary with how they are used and charged. Apple explains the screen on its battery and performance page, and we go deeper in used iPhone battery health.

How the grade moves the number

Here are our current cash offers for the iPhone 15 Pro, by storage and grade, unlocked and carrier locked. Read across a row to see what each step down in grade does to the offer.

Offers as of Oct 14, 2026. The exact number for your device comes from the quote, in about a minute.

Two things stand out when you read a table like this. The gap between neighboring grades is real money, so it pays to grade carefully rather than guess low or high. And lock status moves the number too, which is why the unlocked and carrier-locked tables differ. See carrier locked vs unlocked for why.

For other models, check the value pages, for example the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 13.

Other faults to mention

The grade covers how the phone looks and whether the display works. A few faults sit alongside it, and our sell page lists them so you can tick what applies:

• A cracked camera lens.
• A rear camera that is blurry, black or will not focus.
• Face ID that fails or is unavailable.
• A battery that needs service.
• A repair or part message, such as an Unknown Part warning in Settings > General > About.

Tick anything that is wrong. It is far easier to price a phone correctly from the start than to change the number at the meetup.

Grading tips from the counter

• Grade the worst thing, not the average. A spotless phone with one cracked corner of the back glass is grade C.
• A cracked protector is not a cracked screen. Peel it off if you can, or tell us it is only the protector.
• Photos help. Our sell page lets you add photos of the front, the back, the sides and any damage. A photo of a mark settles whether it is B or C faster than a description.
• When in doubt, describe it. "A small scratch near the camera" tells us more than a letter, and it keeps the conversation at the meetup short.

When you are ready, get your number at /sell. You pick the model, the storage, the lock status and the condition, and the estimate appears on screen as you answer. Nothing is committed until you say so. Before you hand it over, follow how to get your iPhone ready to sell.

Frequently asked questions

What does grade B mean for a used iPhone?

Grade B means light wear: a few light scratches or a small mark, with nothing cracked. It is a phone that has clearly been used but has been looked after.

Is a cracked back iPhone grade C or D?

A cracked back with an uncracked, working screen is grade C. If the front screen is cracked as well, or the display shows lines or dots, it is grade D.

Does battery health change the grade of an iPhone?

Not with us. The grade is about the phone's physical condition and display. A battery at 79% health or below is a flat $20 off at any grade.

Why is my iPhone grade D if the screen is not cracked?

Lines, dots, color bleed or burn-in mean the display itself is damaged, even if the glass is whole. Fixing that takes a new display, the same as a shattered screen, so it is graded D.

How do I check my iPhone's battery health?

On iPhone 15 and later, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health. On iPhone 11 through 14, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging, and read Maximum Capacity.