Will an American iPhone 5S work in the UK?

[gusping]

Hi,

I'm going to America soon and was wondering if i bought an unlocked iPhone 5S from an Apple store, will it work on any carrier in the UK despite the different network bands etc? I have one year left on my contract with an iPhone 5 however as the 5S is much cheaper in America i was wondering if i could simply buy the 5S and put my current sim card in it.

Thanks.

 

[FlyUnlock.com]

Hi,

I'm going to America soon and was wondering if i bought an unlocked iPhone 5S from an Apple store, will it work on any carrier in the UK despite the different network bands etc? I have one year left on my contract with an iPhone 5 however as the 5S is much cheaper in America i was wondering if i could simply buy the 5S and put my current sim card in it.

Thanks.

You must buy the one that uses the same band (or at least supports it)

 

[Adam552]

Hi,

I'm going to America soon and was wondering if i bought an unlocked iPhone 5S from an Apple store, will it work on any carrier in the UK despite the different network bands etc? I have one year left on my contract with an iPhone 5 however as the 5S is much cheaper in America i was wondering if i could simply buy the 5S and put my current sim card in it.

Thanks.

In the US they sell the A1533 model unlocked (according to Apple's site).

This is same as one of the models sold in the UK (see tech specs): http://store.apple.com/uk/buy-iphone/iphone5s

 

[gusping]

In the US they sell the A1533 model unlocked (according to Apple's site).

This is same as one of the models sold in the UK (see tech specs): http://store.apple.com/uk/buy-iphone/iphone5s

The US and UK store both list all models with the different bands so i'm not sure which is which... :S

 

[gusping]

http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/ If you go to the third section, with the iPhone 5S being 'Model A1453', that has the same bands as my current iPhone 5 (Model A1429) which is the very bottom section. Both support EE which is my current carrier so does that mean this model will work?

 

[Adam552]

The US and UK store both list all models with the different bands so i'm not sure which is which... :S

The unlocked iPhone 5s model that is sold in the US is A1533 (GSM). The other models I guess are bought on contracts.

Model A1533*: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25)
Model A1453*: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26)

They're both pretty similar ^^. I think it would work as long as it doesn't need to use LTE Bands 18, 26.

Edit: pretty convinced it will work after looking at that page

 

[biohead]

The US iPhone 5S models don't support Band 7 LTE. EE and Vodafone will be using this frequency (2600MHz) and so you may be unable to get a 4G connection.

 

[d123]

The US iPhone 5S models don't support Band 7 LTE. EE and Vodafone will be using this frequency (2600MHz) and so you may be unable to get a 4G connection.

True, a US model will get 800 and 1800, so will have reasonable LTE coverage, might be a bit congested in towns where 2600 is going to be used for fill in.

Check the network you want to use (eg EE has a big 1800 network) and decide if you can do without 2600 coverage.