Man who's spent years working with used phones buys 200 iPhone 16 Pro Max devices and sells them in just 72 hours

Buying a new iPhone is exciting enough, but buying 200 iPhone 16 Pro Max devices at once is a completely different story.

That’s exactly what happened when used phone expert Rey Brown got his hands on a huge shipment of Apple’s flagship smartphones and challenged himself to sell the entire lot within 72 hours.

But before he could start making sales, he discovered that some of the phones had a few surprises waiting inside the boxes.

And with hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of iPhones sitting in front of him, there was very little room for mistake.

Buying 200 iPhone 16 Pro Max devices quickly turned into a giant treasure hunt

A YouTuber received the massive batch of iPhone 16 Pro Max gadgets after they had already been graded as B-grade phones, pre-owned, functional, but with light signs of use.

Speaking to Supercar Blondie, the YouTuber described it as ‘the largest single purchase of iPhone 16 Pro Max devices [he’s] made’.

Rather than taking the seller’s word for it, he decided to inspect every single mobile himself, and some immediately stood out for all the right reasons.

Several phones looked so clean that Rey Brown believed they deserved A-grade status, with barely a mark visible on the screens or bodies.

Other iPhone 16 Pro Maxes were a little more questionable.

One handset had such a scratched-up display that the YouTuber could hardly believe it had made it through grading as a B.

Holding it up to the camera, he couldn’t hide his disbelief: “You see this screen? Like what is this?”

After working through all 200 phones, the final tally was surprisingly impressive: 107 A-grade phones, 90 B-grade phones, and just three C-grade devices, which is not bad for a lot that was supposed to be entirely B-grade.

The used phone expert found only one major problem

Once the cosmetic inspection was finished, the real work began.

Every phone had to be plugged into diagnostic software to check everything from battery health and Face ID to cameras, speakers, carrier locks and activation status.

The process might not be glamorous, but it quickly revealed whether a phone was ready for a new owner.

Remarkably, only one device caused any serious concern.

Out of 200 iPhone 16 Pro Max units, just one refused to power on, the content creator described it as potentially being a total loss, making it the lone troublemaker in an otherwise healthy shipment.

The rest of the batch sailed through testing and even better, Brown already had a buyer waiting for half the lot.

When asked about the challenge of moving so many phones in just 72 hours, Rey said that ‘typically the biggest challenge is finding buyers,’ but this time was different.

“This time it was balancing speed versus profit. Every day I hold inventory, I have more capital tied up, and I’m exposed to market price changes,” he said.

“I constantly balance accepting the first solid offer against waiting for a potentially better one, all while hoping the market doesn’t decline.”

After packing, testing, and cleaning the devices, the first 100 phones were shipped out on day one.

What’s the final profit?

The YouTuber revealed the lot cost him around $147,000 up front, with the phones expected to bring in roughly $153,000 once the bulk of them had been sold.

That leaves a profit of around $6,000, which might not sound huge considering the eye-watering amount of cash involved.

But that’s the nature of the phone wholesale business, where success often comes from moving large volumes quickly rather than making massive margins on individual devices, but Brown also wasn’t planning on clearing out every last phone.

Instead, he intended to keep a handful of iPhone 16 Pro Max devices in reserve, ensuring he always had stock on hand for customers who might come calling after the main batch had already sold.

When Rey was asked why people are buying far more used iPhones than new ones, he admitted, ‘phones have reached a point where improvements between generations are incremental, a phone that’s two or three years old still can do everything the latest generation can’.

“Second, consumers are keeping their phones longer, so buying a premium used device has become a smart financial decision,” he said.

And while Brown originally framed the challenge as an ambitious goal, he ultimately managed to sell almost all 200 iPhone 16 Pro Max devices within just 72 hours.

For most people, selling one old phone online can be a headache, but for this guy, moving 200 of Apple’s most expensive smartphones in three days was just another week at work.