Going to Russia iPhone as a gift?

The only advice I can give you is do NOT fall in to the trap of buying an "unlocked" Sprint iPhone.

Sprint only unlocks their phones for international use. Of course, your phone would be going international. But the problem is that Sprint requires you to be a customer and have a minimum of 90 days on account before they will unlock the phone for international use.

Lots of people are falling into this trap because unethical sellers are advertising Sprint iPhones as "unlocked." There's a reason most of the iPhones on eBay or craigslist are Sprint iPhones.

You might be best served with a Verizon iPhone which I understand come unlocked both for domestic and international use.

DISCLAIMER: I'm a Sprint customer.

 

If Russia has standard GSM support, then buying an Unlocked/Contract free phone directly from Apple will work.

 

Russians used to go ga-ga over blue jeans, I guess their standard improved.

 

why not just see what they offer from apple russia and see if there's any cost savings and if it is the same type of phone.

http://www.apple.com/ru/buy/

 

IIRC, if you buy an iPhone in the U.S. and take it overseas and then have a problem you have to bring it back here for warranty service. This contrasts to the Mac line where warranty is worldwide.

 

just buy one there

 

The Russian carriers use GSM.
Buy an unlocked A1428 model.