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Unlocked iPhone 4/5 availability in the US

iPhonelover72

iPhonelover72

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 28, 2011
18
0
Hey guys,

I will be travelling to the US in July and will stay till august. My question is this. Will the iPhone 4 or 5 be available unlocked in the US by then. As far as I know it is only available on 2 carriers in the US i.e AT&T and verizon. So is there any possibility of getting an unlocked iPhone in the US. Besides that, if i want to purchase an iPhone 5(it will be released by then), will it be hard to get? I hear there is a lack of availability of the iPhones around the first 2 months of launch.

Thanks.
 
Apple have never sold the iPhone unlocked in the US and there has not been any news suggesting this is about to change. Unlocked iPhones are available in Canada if you are staying near the border?
 
I doubt the iPhone will be sold unlocked in the states until the iPhone which supports both CDMA AND GSM arrives which won't be in time for August. So, in answer to your question, highly unlikely.

Sent from my iPad 2
 
I doubt the carriers will ever allow unlocked iPhones to be sold in the U.S. and they have enough political muscle to prevent the FCC from requiring the phones be offered unlocked. The market in the U.S. is very different from Europe; Americans expect phones cheap and are willing to pay for long term contracts instead of simply buying phones outright then picking a carrier.
 
old-wiz said:
I doubt the carriers will ever allow unlocked iPhones to be sold in the U.S. and they have enough political muscle to prevent the FCC from requiring the phones be offered unlocked. The market in the U.S. is very different from Europe; Americans expect phones cheap and are willing to pay for long term contracts instead of simply buying phones outright then picking a carrier.
Click to expand...

The same can be said for Canada yet we have unlocked iPhones. You never know but Apple might deliver in the near future.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
yea i highly doubt you will see any unlocked phones in the u.s. for quite some time. and now apple has even forced the remote unlocking services to shut down.
 
Man that sucks. I only have a visa for the US so i don't think I can go to canada. What about WP7 phones? Are they available unlocked?
 
iPhonelover72 said:
Man that sucks. I only have a visa for the US so i don't think I can go to canada. What about WP7 phones? Are they available unlocked?
Click to expand...

Very few phones are available factory unlocked in the US. However, pretty much every phone in the US except for the iphone can be unlocked by the carrier after 90 days of service in good standing
 
Depending where you're traveling from, it might not be hard to get a visa into Canada. Check their web site.
iPhonelover72 said:
Man that sucks. I only have a visa for the US so i don't think I can go to canada. What about WP7 phones? Are they available unlocked?
Click to expand...
 
eastercat said:
Depending where you're traveling from, it might not be hard to get a visa into Canada. Check their web site.
Click to expand...

even if it is easy it doesnt make sense to travel to Canada just to get an unlocked iphone. dude if you stay in Us more than a month, you can try craiglist or ebay while you are there. the price of brand new factory unlocked 16 gig iphone 4 on ebay is around 750-850.
 
old-wiz said:
I doubt the carriers will ever allow unlocked iPhones to be sold in the U.S. and they have enough political muscle to prevent the FCC from requiring the phones be offered unlocked. The market in the U.S. is very different from Europe; Americans expect phones cheap and are willing to pay for long term contracts instead of simply buying phones outright then picking a carrier.
Click to expand...

Your arguement doesn't really hold up there because I paid £69 for my iPhone on a £35 a month plan. These prices inc tax and there is no activation fees. So we do have cheap contract iPhones and expensive non-locked iPhones in europe.
 
TheOriginalKi said:
Your arguement doesn't really hold up there because I paid £69 for my iPhone on a £35 a month plan. These prices inc tax and there is no activation fees. So we do have cheap contract iPhones and expensive non-locked iPhones in europe.
Click to expand...

just rub it in why don't ya!;)
 
Haha aright, but Iam most probably gonna switch to wp7 or maybe android(not likely). It doesnt seem justified to have this much headache just to get an iPhone. Thanks guys.
 
iPhonelover72 said:
Haha aright, but Iam most probably gonna switch to wp7 or maybe android(not likely). It doesnt seem justified to have this much headache just to get an iPhone. Thanks guys.
Click to expand...

yup getting an unlocked iphone sure sucks before you only could have locked iphone unless you lived in south Africa or some other strange places. then it got a little better in EU but still sux as hard as before in us.
 
iPhonelover72 said:
Man that sucks. I only have a visa for the US so i don't think I can go to canada. What about WP7 phones? Are they available unlocked?
Click to expand...

If you buy a phone at T-Mobile and have it for 30 day they will unlock any phone they can. This i think is why T-Mobile is not going to get the iPhone until ATT takes it over.

I just got my factory unlocked phone but i had to have it delivered to me.

Apple got most of my wish list with iOS5 now if they would make an unlocked phone and allow iblacklist on the app store i would really have no reason to JB any phone. Right now i have the factory unlocked to the only reason i have a JB phone is for iblacklist.
 
Michael CM1 said:
I thought this thread was weird until I saw the dates. The unlocked iPhone 4 is available at apple.com/store. It's like $650, but it's available.
Click to expand...

You know i was going to call bunk on you for saying they sold unlocked phones so I went to apple and looked. Ok ill put my tail between my legs and hid under that rock now that this can be done.

Now i cant wait until the 5 comes out just so i can order it right from apple.
 
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