giffgaff Refurbished Samsung S23+ Review — £229 and Genuinely Brilliant

I’ll be honest — I wasn’t completely sure what to expect.

I’d written about refurbished phones on giffgaff before, but actually buying one is a different thing entirely. You know what the grades mean on paper. You know the photos are generic. But there’s still a small voice in the back of your head going “yeah but what’s it actually going to be like?”

So I went ahead and ordered a Samsung Galaxy S23+ 5G in Good condition.

£25 upfront. £8.50 a month for 24 months. £229 total.

For an S23+, that’s a genuinely ridiculous price. The thing launched at close to £1,000. And honestly? I’m sitting here writing this thinking I might never buy a brand new phone again.

Here’s exactly what happened from order to switching it on.

Ordering through giffgaff was straightforward. The refurbished section is easy to navigate — you filter by phone, then by condition grade, and the price adjusts depending on how much you want to pay upfront versus spread over 24 months.

What I liked about this bit is the flexibility. You’re not locked into one upfront payment. You choose how much of it to pay today, and the rest gets split over the 24-month term. For me that was £25 upfront with £8.50 coming out monthly — which is honestly less than most people spend on a takeaway these days.

I placed the order and the phone arrived next day.

Not eventually. Not within 3–5 working days.

Next day.

For a refurbished device that I’m paying just over £200 total for, I wasn’t expecting that. But there it was on the doorstep the following morning, packaged up and ready to go.

Opening it up, the first thing I noticed was that it felt well packaged. Not chucked in a bag and hoped for the best — properly secured.

The phone itself came out looking… actually really good.

The screen straight away looked clean. No smears, no obvious marks, no sense that it had been someone else’s daily driver for two years. Switched it on and it came to life without any drama.

Now — I bought Good condition. And Good condition on giffgaff means:

Basically: the body might show signs of life, but the phone itself works properly. And that’s exactly what I got.

The housing marks are real. I’m not going to pretend they’re not there.

You can see them in the photos on giffgaff’s listing — and that’s exactly the point. They show you what you’re getting before you buy. The marks on mine were light but visible, mostly around the edges of the frame. The kind of thing you’d expect after a couple of years in someone’s pocket.

But here’s the thing.

The screen?

Near mint. I genuinely could not find a scratch on it. No signs of heavy use, no scuffs, nothing. For a “Good” grade device, the screen condition genuinely surprised me. It looked like it had barely been touched.

And honestly — once this phone is in a case (which any sensible person puts on their phone anyway), the housing marks are completely irrelevant. You’ll never see them. What you’ll see is that screen, and that screen is lovely.

Let’s talk about what you’re actually getting for your £229.

The Samsung Galaxy S23+ is not a budget phone dressed up as something better. It’s a proper 2023 Android flagship. And in 2026, it still holds up extremely well.

In day-to-day use, it’s fast. Genuinely fast. No hesitation opening apps, switching between things, doing the usual stuff. The 120Hz screen is smooth and the display quality is noticeably better than anything in the mid-range price bracket.

The camera has been great too. I’m not a professional photographer but I take a lot of photos and the results from the 50MP main sensor are genuinely impressive — especially in decent light. Night mode is solid. The 3x optical zoom is useful more often than I expected.

Battery life gets me through a full day without drama. I’m not a particularly heavy user but I’m not babying it either.

And the honest truth is — I cannot tell I’m using a refurbished phone. It just works. It feels like a premium device because it is a premium device. The only reminder that it’s not brand new is the light marks on the housing, which are under a case and completely invisible.

Let’s be real about this for a second.

A brand new Samsung Galaxy S23+ launched at £999. Even now in 2026, you’re looking at £700+ for a new one from major retailers. On a typical network contract you’d be paying £35–£45 a month just for the handset portion.

I paid £229. Total. Over two years.

That’s not a marginal saving. That’s a different category of spending entirely.

And the flexibility of the payment model is worth highlighting again. You’re not locked into paying £229 upfront — you choose how much to put down today and spread the rest. For anyone who doesn’t want or can’t justify a big upfront spend on a phone, this makes a genuinely premium device accessible in a way that a standard contract doesn’t.

The phone arrives SIM-free, which is actually a good thing — it means you’re not tied to any network and can pick whatever SIM suits you.

If you’re already on a SIM you’re happy with, just pop it in and you’re done. If you need a SIM, here are a few we’ve reviewed on Snagly that are worth a look:

Personally I’d look at giffgaff first given you’re already buying through them — their SIM plans are solid, flexible, and the O2 coverage is good for most of the UK.