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New iPhone in September unlock question

Christian 5G

Christian 5G

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 16, 2010
1,080
743
Orange County, CA
Hello,

I have a question about the next iPhone and had a question about the "unlocked capability" on the online preorder night.

Will there be an option unlocked phone when the new iPhone comes out on the pre-order night - or only the carrier one's?
 
I sure believe so as I'm after an unlocked handset too which I will be purchasing from Apple directly for preorder
 
I had to buy an iPhone6 for a friend overseas. I ordered one for TMobile, for which you pay full price. When it comes in, first step, take the tmobile sim out. Put my ATT sim in, powered it and it recognized ATT sim right away. Hence, unlocked. It worked fine for my friend in his country as well.
 
No matter what carrier you are purchasing it from, all iPhone are unlocked.
 
hawon said:
No matter what carrier you are purchasing it from, all iPhone are unlocked.

ckc said:
Not so in the UK.
A phone bought from a carrier is locked to that carrier. The only unlocked iPhones are those bought from an Apple Store or direct from Apple without a carrier contract.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Not in the US either. I believe only T-Mobile phones are unlocked. I know for sure AT&T is not.
 
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For the 6 and 6/6 Plus, the Sim Free models didn't release till around January. So I assume it would be the same situation for the 6S and 6S Plus. They will likely do pre-orders for the carrier models first and then later once the supply meets demand is when they will likely start selling sim-free models.

But I'm sure they will take pre-orders for the t-mobile models as they are also unlocked.
 
nepalisherpa said:
Not in the US either. I believe only T-Mobile phones are unlocked. I know for sure AT&T is not.
Click to expand...
Unless you purchase the AT&T model as Device only, then it comes unlocked. But that is purchased from the Apple store. I'm not sure about the ones being purchased from AT&T store.
 
nepalisherpa said:
Not in the US either. I believe only T-Mobile phones are unlocked. I know for sure AT&T is not.
Click to expand...
Shadowbech said:
Unless you purchase the AT&T model as Device only, then it comes unlocked. But that is purchased from the Apple store. I'm not sure about the ones being purchased from AT&T store.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about AT&T model purchased from AT&T store but I have tried to swap SIM cards from T-Mobile AT&T and Verizon to each other's and all worked without an issue. Wasn't that the point of Apple sim? Devices come unlocked choose your carrier.

I have not encountered any singled locked iPhone 6....
 
Last year, Apple waited until January to release the official "Unlocked and contract-free" iPhone. I expect the same this year.
 
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The Sim Free iPhone will most likely not be available on pre-orders, but the Unlocked T-Moble variant will be offered for pre-orders. Simply remove the T-Mobile sim card and replace it with any US carrier sim and the iPhone will recognize it as (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint...etc).
 
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It depends on where you life. In Germany for example unlocked phones can be preorded and are available in stores.
 
For US market.

Any iPhone bought full price from Apple Store (brick: all; online: possibly T-Mobile only):
unlocked (but not necessarily whitelisted on Sprint and Verizon)

Verizon: unlocked (per FCC agreement)

Sprint: locked (until contract/installment obligations are fulfilled)

AT&T: locked (until contract/installment obligations are fulfilled)

T-Mobile: locked (until contract/installment obligations are fulfilled)

As for SIM-free, it's generally released later than the carrier SKUs. The SIM-free iPhone 4S was made available around a month after the 4S's release. Longest interval between carrier and SIM-free versions appear to be the 6/6 Plus (around 3-4 months).
 
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hawon said:
I'm not sure about AT&T model purchased from AT&T store but I have tried to swap SIM cards from T-Mobile AT&T and Verizon to each other's and all worked without an issue. Wasn't that the point of Apple sim? Devices come unlocked choose your carrier.

I have not encountered any singled locked iPhone 6....
Click to expand...

Stop posting nonsense.
Just because you tried an unlocked phone you think every iphone sold is automatically unlocked?
Apple sim has nothing to do with people getting phones under contract or by using "next" payments.
 
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For reference:

iPhone 4S
initial: Oct 14, 2011
SIM-free: Nov 11, 2011

iPhone 5
initial: Sep 21, 2012
SIM-free: Nov 29, 2012

iPhone 5s
initial: Sep 20, 2013
SIM-free: Nov 22, 2013

iPhone 6/6 Plus
initial: Sep 19, 2014
SIM-free: Jan 6, 2015
 
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My suggestion would be to buy an iPhone online from UK or another country where celluar bands are compatible with your carrier.

I'm currently living in Qatar and all iPhones (or any smartphone) is unlocked and sim free whether it is from the carrier or not.
 
OP was asking about online pre orders. We know about the full price in store option, but in the past, T-Mobile model has been the only online option at launch for unlocked.
 
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duaneu said:
OP was asking about online pre orders. We know about the full price in store option, but in the past, T-Mobile model has been the only online option at launch for unlocked.
Click to expand...
Well, technically speaking so have been the Verizon versions as well, since as of iPhone 5 they have to be factory unlocked.
 
C DM said:
Well, technically speaking so have been the Verizon versions as well, since as of iPhone 5 they have to be factory unlocked.
Click to expand...
C DM said:
Well, technically speaking so have been the Verizon versions as well, since as of iPhone 5 they have to be factory unlocked.
Click to expand...

But you can't preorder the Verizon version online without signing up for Verizon service. T Mobile is the only contract free option online until the sim free model is released, usually months later.
 
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Does anyone know if the AT&T iPhone comes unlocked if you buy it through AT&T for full price and have a Mobile Share Value no contract postpaid plan?
 
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