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Personally I specialize in Apple laptops. Tablets and phones aren't really designed to be repaired, so they are relatively difficult, and they are plagued with locking issues. The window of opportunity for any given phone or tablet is only a few years, after which they lose so much value that they are no longer worth working on. Plus, there is severe competition, which means you'll be working for a very low dollar-per-hour figure, because your service is a dime a dozen. Laptops are worth more money, have a longer lifespan, are easier to repair, etc. And specifically with Apple, you have a very high-quality line of products, with off-the-charts name recognition that effectively sells them for you.
If you intend to buy good product and sell it without doing repair, you can, but it's a tough business, and you can't expect your margins to be very high, and there's also a ton of risk because small miscalculations can easily lead to losses. I wouldn't recommend it. The secret weapon is an ability to repair -- if you repair, you don't have to be afraid of any given pile of material, as long as it's material that you specialize in.
The key is buying at the right price. I have a saying: Never pay more that you can sell it for broken. And it's absolutely critical that you abide by that rule at all times. That way, if what you buy turns out to be total junk, that's OK because you haven't overpaid. But more realistically, it will be better than that, and you'll have gotten a good deal. But you MUST stick to the rule -- the second you assume you're getting good product and therefore pay more than a "broken" price, you'll start making pricing errors, and that is the worst situation to be in because you'll end up spending tons of time just trying to cut even, or even just to not lose tons of money. Risking paying too much is gambling, and gambling is for fools. All fools eventually lose all their money, and so gambling is not an acceptable basis for a business.
When the prices you pay for inventory are low, not everyone will sell to you, and so the key to finding good product is making lots of offers. In sales they have a saying: You drop 100 cold calls into the funnel, and if you're lucky, maybe one sale will drop out of the bottom of the funnel. If you're lucky. So you have to put yourself out there, make tons of offers, and get used to people saying "no", but eventually you'll find one or two people who say "yes", and then you'll be in a good situation.
I buy mostly from electronics recyclers, but I found most of them on eBay. There's tons of good product on eBay, and everyone is on eBay to some extent -- you just have to reach out to them, and you have to know exactly what you're looking for.
Hope that helps, and let me know if you have more questions!
John