This question has probably been asked a million times before, but can I buy an iPhone 4S in the USA and bring it home and use it in the UK with an O2 microsim?
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can I bring a 4S home from the USA and use it in the UK?
- Thread starter copydeskcat
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Excellent - thanks guys.
My mate is in Vegas and is thinking of brining one back.
I'm tempted to get him to get me a Mac Mini too - I'm just curious about whether I would have issues with the power connector on it (and the warranty)?
Can't help you with the power connector question, but Apple's warranty is worldwide so you wouldn't have any problems there.
The Mac Mini use a shaver cord style power connector, it's supply is universal so it'll run from 110-240VAC 50/60Hz
http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html
You'll simply need a way to plug it in (2 prong, no GND)
http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html
You'll simply need a way to plug it in (2 prong, no GND)
As far as I know, non of Apple's products need a power converter to work in other countries, just a plug converter. As for the warranty, I'm not 100% certain on this, but I've read elsewhere that if you have an issue with the machine you'll have to send it back to the US for service.
Superb - thanks guys.
As far as I can tell, Apple's Warranties are international on all products. I'll ask Apple UK just in case.
Apple chat person says the warranty is not valid internationally on a Mac Mini, I would have to buy Apple Care. However, I spoke to the Glasgow Apple Store and they said they would honour the warranty as long as it had a serial number and a valid receipt.
I'm not sure about the Mac mini, but the iPhone warranty is limited to the original country of purchase. So if you have any issues with the iPhone it will need to be sent to someone you know in the US to be taken into Apple for evaluation. Then they will need to ship the phone back to you. Apple does not accept direct mail in repairs and this will all be at your expense. Search the apple.com forums and you will see MANY folks who are in that exact situation. Even Apple care does not extend the warranty to int'l. You're best to get the iphone locally.
Good luck.
Good luck.
The Apple Store in Glasgow say they would honour the iPhone warranty as long as it had a valid serial number and a receipt. It's no skin off their nose, and they would never tarnish Apple's good customer service history by knocking back a customer with a genuine defect or fault in one of their products. Although, they would be right to dismiss lack of care or accidental damage.
I bought a bumper case in the USA before Apple announced the refund, and I brought it home with my receipt and asked for my money - they said I would have to go back to the States to get my refund, but I said I wasn't happy and they gave me the money (I told them I was happy to accept iTunes vouchers for it).
Make sure your friend knows to go to an actual Apple store.
I'm pretty sure some of the carriers here sell high-priced contract-free phones, but those are often still locked to the carrier in question.
I'm not 100% sure that's true everywhere, but why take any chances?
I'm pretty sure some of the carriers here sell high-priced contract-free phones, but those are often still locked to the carrier in question.
I'm not 100% sure that's true everywhere, but why take any chances?
Of the three Apple Stores in Las Vegas, all of them are on Las Vegas Blvd. So as long as his friend goes to an Apple Store on Las Vegas Blvd., I'm sure he will be fine.
I think the Apple Store he's going to use is actually in his hotel. I'll find out which one it is, but I'm almost 100% certain it's an official Apple Store.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A406 Safari/7534.48.3)
But silly that. What if you travel a lot or if you decide to emigrate? Are you supposed to sell a perfectly working phone?iPhone Warrior said:
AFAIK...iPhone does not have worldwide warranty, I would not know about factory unlocked ones (it could be possible).
Here is a link to the iPhone warranty.
http://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/iphone/
On page 2 it states:
IMPORTANT RESTRICTION
Apple may restrict warranty service to the country where Apple or its
Authorized Distributors originally sold the Apple Product.
http://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/iphone/
On page 2 it states:
IMPORTANT RESTRICTION
Apple may restrict warranty service to the country where Apple or its
Authorized Distributors originally sold the Apple Product.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A406 Safari/7534.48.3)
Key word being may. Seems they would be understanding if you emigrate or travel regularly. But if importing to save money maybe not so understanding and it'd be upto the store you deal with. That's how I read that.
Key word being may. Seems they would be understanding if you emigrate or travel regularly. But if importing to save money maybe not so understanding and it'd be upto the store you deal with. That's how I read that.
Does the OP want an unlocked 4S? All he asked if he bought a 4S in the US could it work in the UK which people answered he would have to buy the unlocked version.
I(wrongly?) assumed that it would be cheaper to buy the 4S in the UK since it would be subsidized vs buying the unlocked 4S in the US.
Yeah, he wants an unlocked 4S, which costs £499 in the UK. It's $649 (plus tax) in the USA (Nevada Tax in Vegas is 8%, so he would pay around $700, which is around £450 at current exchange rates).
The chances of paying import tax on the phone or the Mac Mini are almost negligible.You can bring in other goods worth up to £390 without having to pay tax and/or duty - the customs people are only interested if you're bringing back hoards of electronics to sell on for a profit. They're never going to hammer someone for something like this. I've been to the USA 12 times in the past nine years and I've brought back iPods, iPads, Nintendo DSs, SatNavs - and I've never, ever once been stopped. You can also split the allowance across a group, if your luggage is shared.
The Mac Mini I'm looking at is £657.60 (which includes a discount I get of 6% in the UK).
The spec is:
Mac Mini
2.5ghz processor
4GB memory
500GB hard drive
No accessories or other modifications.
On the Apple USA website, that same Mac Mini is priced at $799.00. State tax takes the price of the Mini up to about $863 (or about £551 at current exchange rates). In which case, I'm better getting it upgraded to 8gb memory - which takes it up to $999 + tax, which takes it to $1078 (or about £688 - which is only £30 more than the lower spec model).
