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SIM-free iPhone 6S at launch in USA? [MERGED]

paulopadopa said:
I've been getting unlocked iPhones at launch since the 4 so I hope they'll be available. Shocked if not as that would be a bit of a change.
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At launch? I don't believe any iPhone has been offered SIM-free and unlocked at launch in the U.S., ever. And I think the iPhone 4 was the first iPhone to be offered in the U.S. at full retail price unlocked and that wasn't until well into half of its product cycle.
 
jent said:
At launch? I don't believe any iPhone has been offered SIM-free and unlocked at launch in the U.S., ever. And I think the iPhone 4 was the first iPhone to be offered in the U.S. at full retail price unlocked and that wasn't until well into half of its product cycle.
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It was not possible to buy an unlocked iPhone 4 in the U.S. at launch. I live close to the border and ordered one to be shipped to a UPS Store in Canada, and I went over the border to get it.

The officially unlocked iPhones are never available in the U.S. at launch, but starting with the 4S or 5, you could go to an Apple Store and pay full price for an AT&T version, which was automatically unlocked upon paying for it.
 
I would think that if the full price sprint version is available @Apple then it'd be unlocked like the others.
 
IIRC, last year you could only buy the t-mobile variant through apple online outright. You had to actually go to the store to purchase a verizon model without a contract or being a verizon customer.

if you do not camp out and want to buy a phone at full retail from Apple, you have to cave and get the t-mobile variant or wait a month until stock is back in stores.

I hope this year is different, but that is how it was last year. For those wondering, most buying outright want the verizon model b.c it carriers the highest resale value.
 
karan.k said:
That's because last year network providers were not in compliance with the law that was passed out in February 2015, post which even sprint phones were required to be sold unlocked
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Hmm. The only carrier that sells unlocked phones is Verizon. All others sell them locked and you have to apply for the unlock.
 
So hypothetically, if I wanted to buy a T-Mobile iPhone 6S at launch at the full retail price and eventually toss a Verizon SIM into it, it will work just fine correct?
 
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mattopotamus said:
IIRC, last year you could only buy the t-mobile variant through apple online outright. You had to actually go to the store to purchase a verizon model without a contract or being a verizon customer.

if you do not camp out and want to buy a phone at full retail from Apple, you have to cave and get the t-mobile variant or wait a month until stock is back in stores.

I hope this year is different, but that is how it was last year. For those wondering, most buying outright want the verizon model b.c it carriers the highest resale value.
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I thought the sim free variant carries the highest resale? It includes every LTE band including Verizon *and* includes foreign LTE bands that the U.S. carrier versions do not.
 
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barkomatic said:
I thought the sim free variant carries the highest resale? It includes every LTE band including Verizon *and* includes foreign LTE bands that the U.S. carrier versions do not.
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Oddly enough the Verizon still sells higher in the U.S.
 
barkomatic said:
I thought the sim free variant carries the highest resale? It includes every LTE band including Verizon *and* includes foreign LTE bands that the U.S. carrier versions do not.
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For most people unlocked Is unlocked so it does not matter.
 
Anyone know if they will offer a Unlocked 6s for pre-order? I plan to buy the 64GB 6s Silver outright for AT&T, but I'd like to get the Unlocked version. And get my wife the same phone in Gold on the NEXT program.

Thanks!

And sorry if this has been brought up in an earlier thread as I didn't see one...
 
ripsaw650 said:
Anyone know if they will offer a Unlocked 6s for pre-order? I plan to buy the 64GB 6s Silver outright for AT&T, but I'd like to get the Unlocked version. And get my wife the same phone in Gold on the NEXT program.

Thanks!

And sorry if this has been brought up in an earlier thread as I didn't see one...
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YUP! My bad, now I can see the similar threads... Sorry!
 
AppleFan91 said:
So hypothetically, if I wanted to buy a T-Mobile iPhone 6S at launch at the full retail price and eventually toss a Verizon SIM into it, it will work just fine correct?
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I just tried to insert friend's VZW sim in my unlocked t-mo phone, worked no problem. t-mo and VZW iphones are the same. Sprint and apple sim free have 4 more lte bands38,39,40,41used in Asia and Eastern Europe ( for example: part of Moscow has 38 lte with MTS, one of the best provider in Russia)
I hope apple phone 6S will have all LTE bands for every carrier
 
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Florida Gator said:
I know we won't know until they officially announce, but just wanted to see if anybody had any theories.

Assuming it will be similar to the iPhone 6, I would like the SIM-free iPhone 6S rather than a potential unlocked T-Mobile version due to the additional LTE bands of the former for travel in Asia and better international AppleCare support.

The problem is, last time, the unlocked A1549 version was available at launch in September and the actual SIM-free A1586 version didn't come out until the following January, nearly 4 months later.

Anybody have any guesses? I know the SIM-free versions have been available sooner for other models. Maybe this is the year they truly just have one? Thoughts?
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You would think they would offer the sim-free the same days since many of these cell carriers are going by way of contract free. I predict sim-free will arrive and be offered later around Nov. 2015 -Jan. 2016 to allow cell carriers an edge on sales since Apple is reaping the rewards either way.
 
ET iPhone Home said:
You would think they would offer the sim-free the same days since many of these cell carriers are going by way of contract free. I predict sim-free will arrive and be offered later around Nov. 2015 -Jan. 2016 to allow cell carriers an edge on sales since Apple is reaping the rewards either way.
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Sigh, I think you are probably correct. Even though there have been a lot of changes in how the carriers are handling phones, the majority of people are still on contracts or installment plans that keep them tied to locked phones.

Stinks to have to wait for sim-free, but at least maybe I won't be breaking the bank all at once with the new iPad mini and apple TV potentially coming out at the same time as the phones. I was looking at a huge September bill if all that stuff releases in the same month, with two iphone full price purchases, an apple TV purchase, and an iPad mini purchase, as well as new watch bands. yikes.
 
mattopotamus said:
Oddly enough the Verizon still sells higher in the U.S.
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This made me curious, so I looked at the current average sale prices on Swappa for the various 64GB 6 models in August 2015 (these are from their little graph charts on each phone model).

64GB A1586 (sim-free) - $582
64GB VZW - $570
64GB T-Mob - $543
64GB ATT - $542
64GB Sprint - $502

So the Sim-free phone does garner a premium over the VZW phone, just not by a whole lot. The Sprint model is the worst to buy if you are concerned about resale value, apparently.
 
fieldsphotos said:
This made me curious, so I looked at the current average sale prices on Swappa for the various 64GB 6 models in August 2015 (these are from their little graph charts on each phone model).

64GB A1586 (sim-free) - $582
64GB VZW - $570
64GB T-Mob - $543
64GB ATT - $542
64GB Sprint - $502

So the Sim-free phone does garner a premium over the VZW phone, just not by a whole lot. The Sprint model is the worst to buy if you are concerned about resale value, apparently.
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Sprint is always the worst to buy b.c it only works with sprint.
 
Back to the original question.. Has anyone bought a Sprint iPhone at full price (Post February 2015) and tried using it with any other carrier. This is are only hope to obtain a good resale value iPhone 6s at launch date
 
karan.k said:
Back to the original question.. Has anyone bought a Sprint iPhone at full price (Post February 2015) and tried using it with any other carrier. This is are only hope to obtain a good resale value iPhone 6s at launch date
Click to expand...

Why would it be any different? They are not GSM unlocked, and verizon would not activate it on their network? Is there something I'm missing?
 
karan.k said:
Back to the original question.. Has anyone bought a Sprint iPhone at full price (Post February 2015) and tried using it with any other carrier. This is are only hope to obtain a good resale value iPhone 6s at launch date
Click to expand...

The sprint phone is not unlocked out of the box. This we know.
 
mattopotamus said:
Why would it be any different? They are not GSM unlocked, and verizon would not activate it on their network? Is there something I'm missing?
Click to expand...

You're not missing anything. The querent is simply hoping against hope that somebody could tell him his dream will be realized. :)
 
mattopotamus said:
Why would it be any different? They are not GSM unlocked, and verizon would not activate it on their network? Is there something I'm missing?
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Well they can be GSM unlocked, and as long as you already have a activated Verizon sim card it will work on Verizon.
 
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