Bimwad says not at release (at least not pre-order):

[forums.macresource.com]

Daughter could use a new iPhone and it will be a 6s. We are off-contract with AT$T and pay by the month. As Bimwad says, the unencumbered iPhone does not appear to be available from Apple for pre-order. You must choose a carrier when you buy. Any advantage to waiting until Apple releases a universal 6s or just go with the AT$T model and unlock it whenever, if it is locked? We will pay the full price, no Next payment plan stuff.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2015 07:49PM by Speedy.

Never mind, she has just decided to wait. Seems it has to do with the $1k+ price tag with AppleCare after tax.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

[www.apple.com]

Unlocked — choose your carrier

Quote
space-time
[www.apple.com]

Unlocked — choose your carrier

Been there, done that. Actually, I thought Apple was going to sell a phone that didn't require the carrier to be chosen.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2015 08:50PM by Speedy.

Quote
Speedy

Quote
space-time
[www.apple.com]

Unlocked — choose your carrier

Been there, done that. Actually, I thought Apple was going to sell a phone that didn't require the carrier to be chosen.

I read that the reason they don't sell them without a carrier at the launch/preorder is to cut down on people buying them and selling them overseas.

The SIM Free unlocked version was introduced several months later than the 6/6+ last year.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

Honestly, it's hard to keep up with this stuff, so don't take what I say as gospel. Even more so now that the industry is moving away (albeit slowly) from the old carrier subsidy model, and locked phones.

Heck, even Verizon has loosened their policies and will now accept "compatible" non-Verizon phones onto their network.

[www.verizonwireless.com]

With the 6, Apple didn't officially release an unlocked model until months after the introduction. That didn't stop people from buying carrier branded models which were unofficially the same thing.

Despite the changes, remanants of the old model still remain, like not being able to order an unbranded phone, at least initially, or making carrier activation a requirement for their interest-free payment program. But perhaps once supply catches up with demand, that will no longer be a requirement.

The prudent thing to do is to let the phones hit the streets, and let the early adopters clarify the situation. Right now, we can only surmise on paper. Band 30 is definitely a difference in terms of "GSM model" support, but we can only assume that the CDMA radios in the "GSM" models aren't disabled. Apple has already revised their spec page once to bring it in line with the FCC docuements.

It would be a whole lot easier if Apple offered one universal model for sale, and then said "choose your carrier independently, we want nothing to do with that," but that day hasn't come yet, at least in the U.S.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2015 09:49PM by Bimwad.

I read that the reason they don't sell them without a carrier at the launch/preorder is to cut down on people buying them and selling them overseas.

I saw this same thing in print somewhere and mentioned on a podcast.

The 'Phone is unlocked, but one must pick a carrier.

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I purchased an AT&T version - I will just go ahead and unlock it via AT&T.

Thanks for the info!

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

I ordered the T-mobile contract free version. Will swap in my Verizon SIM tomorrow. Not expecting any issues.