Carrier Unlocking a water damaged iphone through att

[surfologist87]

Here's the story. Completely water damaged a 5s on my plan, so we went and upgraded to a 6. I would like to go to the apple store and do an out of warranty replacement for $269 and let a friend use it, however how do I go about having this phone unlocked?
Att will unlock it since there are no contractual obligations left on the 5s, but since it's water damaged I can't plug into itunes to finish the unlocking process. I was curious that if I at least submit the unlock request, apple will be notified and know to in turn hand me an unlocked 5s replacement.
In the end, when I get a phone from Apple I want to receive an unlocked phone or still be able to unlock it, but it will have a different imei that att probably won't be able to research and see that it is eligible to unlock..
Tried searching and couldn't find answers, so thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Applejuiced]

Get the imei or serial number from inside the sim tray or the back plate of the phone. Submit the unlock request on att's site and you're done.

 

[surfologist87]

Get the imei or serial number from inside the sim tray or the back plate of the phone. Submit the unlock request on att's site and you're done.

Thanks for the reply. If just requesting the unlock is enough for Apple to know to replace it with a like device, then I should be good to go.

 

[Givmeabrek]

Request the unlock from AT&T. They will unlock it in the database. When Apple replaces the phone it will be unlocked. Nothing to it.

 

[Juarez7514]

I don't think apple will replace it with an unlocked version. It would be an AT&T version. I had a t-mobile 6 plus that I got unlocked via t-mobile. The iPhone had a software issue. So when the replaced it at apple I told them mine was unlocked so I neede one unlocked and they would not do it. Stating its a t-mobile iPhone and I need to get it unlocked through t-mobile again. So they gave me a locked t-mobile phone

 

[wongster]

when i had my iPhone 5 locked to att and had a warranty replacement almost a year later, it was replaced with an unlocked iPhone 5. so i think you might get an unlocked version. i think all refurbished phones are unlocked.

isn't all t-mobile iPhones from apple are unlocked anyway? since its full priced?