You can still buy iPhones from Best Buy up here in Canada, I have no idea if they will ship to the States.
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Apple Removes SIM Card Tray on All iPhone 14 Models in U.S.
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You can order via Best Buy Canada, Amazon CA, and other retailers. There's import options, just not through Apple. Just check to see which ones require a Canadian address before ordering and if they'll ship to the US.
If worst comes to worst, eBay's always an option.
Thanks. I’m assuming Best Buy Canada does sell unlocked iPhones ? Here in the USA they are all carrier locked from BB.
Oh crap that's right...
Welp, eBay it is! There's gonna be an iPhone Black Market in the US at this rate
I wouldn’t mind that at all, sounds like the ideal, but eSIM is not available as prepaid in most countries, or have advantageous rates for travelers.
Again- you are talking about “if”
As of today- this isn’t the reality.
In Singapore- I can’t get esim at all except M1 which isn’t available in changi nor its performance is acceptable.
It doesn’t exist in Taiwan- which as of today still require you to have a local number for mandatory 3 day quarantine.
It simply doesn’t work for international traveler.
Stop talking like you know the reality. The fact is this now making owning iPhone 14 so much painful. I am going to reserve the taiwan version if I decide to upgrade. But this is such a greedy move by apple.
Apple only doing this is to in long term become a provider like airalo. Airalo is much more expensive compare to local cards.
Simple as that . This pure greed.
On a side thought, wonder if Apple was also thinking this is another roadblock to leaving the walled garden?
Just a thought…
Just a thought…
Yep. I’ve just been browsing the UK carriers websites. Most offer eSim only as pay monthly and not prepaid. Which also requires a credit check. As a foreigner that won’t work.
Most likely yeah.
Well hey, I gotta thank Apple. That event was the push I needed to finally give Android a try. Gonna go get a Galaxy Tab S8 this holiday to give the OS a try as I've heard nothing but good things about that tablet. It's looking more and more like the iPhone 13 Pro will be my last iPhone.
You’re making an assumption that I wanted this iPhone… and yes, as a world traveller it is something I think about.
Looks like you can at Best Buy anyway:
Not if you pay the full purchase price of the phone. The only reason the UK carrier requires a credit check is because of the 'plans' they offer which is usually 12 months or 24. The RRP of the phone is broken down into 12 month or 24 month payments which effectivly means your buying the phone on credit, you pay off the phone each month. The UK carrier wants to make sure the customer is someone who is going to pay back every month and a credit check will confirm this.
If you purchase the phone at ful RRP then the UK carrier should not carry out a credit check but if they do then they could be in trouble with UK law because you are not buying anything on 'credit'.
Just tell the UK carrier that you are a frequent traveller to the UK and thus want a UK eSim phone and is willing to pay the full price for it and to have it shipped to your home country. If they still say they need a credit check then tell them not only will not be buying from them but that they are also breaking UK trading standards law and Sale of Goods Act. They will either put the phone down on you or proceed with the sale haha
I have changed phones a few times with Verizon and T-Mobile activating switching eSims and have never been charged a fee for this. Now if you upgrade your phone and purchase one through them that is a different story
Phones in Canada are required to be unlocked, so that shouldn't be a problem.
Yes Samsung will make jokes about it but their next release will be without a sim tray
Fyi it's better to stick to stuff actually sold by best buy and not random sellers on the marketplace.
Thanks for the explanation. I indeed will be using my own device. That’s why I was confused as to why they wanted to perform a credit check for pay monthly plans in the UK. Don’t they need that in case i run up a huge bill or something ?Not if you pay the full purchase price of the phone. The only reason the UK carrier requires a credit check is because of the 'plans' they offer which is usually 12 months or 24. The RRP of the phone is broken down into 12 month or 24 month payments which effectivly means your buying the phone on credit, you pay off the phone each month. The UK carrier wants to make sure the customer is someone who is going to pay back every month and a credit check will confirm this.
If you purchase the phone at ful RRP then the UK carrier should not carry out a credit check but if they do then they could be in trouble with UK law because you are not buying anything on 'credit'.
Just tell the UK carrier that you are a frequent traveller to the UK and thus want a UK eSim phone and is willing to pay the full price for it and to have it shipped to your home country. If they still say they need a credit check then tell them not only will not be buying from them but that they are also breaking UK trading standards law and Sale of Goods Act. They will either put the phone down on you or proceed with the sale haha
Canceled the phone cases order I placed last night for 2 iPhones 14 Pros I intended to buy.
Will pass and buy the phone from London/Europe. This is the most stupidest strategy move apple made.
I travel a lot and need prepaid sims. Prepaid plans are at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to esim for the majority of phone companies if not all.
Will pass and buy the phone from London/Europe. This is the most stupidest strategy move apple made.
I travel a lot and need prepaid sims. Prepaid plans are at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to esim for the majority of phone companies if not all.
Well, Mexico isn’t surprising since it really isn’t ready for an eSIM only iphone. The country’s largest carrier, Telcel, still doesn’t at all support eSIM for iphones (so far they only activate eSIM for Apple Watch and the Motorazr) and the other two of the big three (AT&T, Movistar) supposedly do, but in practice they aren’t making it easy to activate the eSIM (i.e., one must go to their physical stores, most of their locations don’t have the eSIM QR cards in stock, staff is still not properly trained and therefore unfamiliar with eSIM activations, etc).
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Do you get a credit check when paying for gas? or paying for food? because you can run up a large bill for gas and food and run off without paying can't you? so why a credit check for running up a large phone bill?
Nope, it's only if you was paying monthly for the phone because phone calls get charged extra. Anyway it serves no purpose running up a huge phone bill and not paying because the network carrier can just easily block your phone and have you prevented from using it.
I think all UK network carriers have access to a universal blocking database because I once bought an iphone 4 off ebay that turned out to be imei locked by the carrier O2. The owner was not honest and turned out they failed to carry on paying off the monthly payments for the phone and decided to sell it. O2 blocked the phones IMEI but when I tried to connected to my carrier EE they refused saying the phone had been blocked. I tried with Orange, Vodaphone and a few lesser known carriers and all came back the same, sorry cant sell you a mobile plan because your phone is blocked. I am not sure if other countries have the same but it serves no purpose trying to put one over on the UK network carrier unless the person want's their phone blocked on all carriers.
