Chinese iPhone Purchased in the UK

Hi All,

I’m posting on behalf of a colleague (more as I’m intreagued to know the answer). He purchased an iPhone 14 Pro Max from a large well known online retailer (who has recently started selling mobile phones).

I had ordered him an eSIM and he found he could not activate it as the phone would just ignore the QR code. Upon checking it appears the handset has a double sided physical SIM slot (and 2 IMEI numbers, one per slot).

Checking the model number it suggests the handset is a Chinese region phone.

The handset was purchased with an O2 contract. He’s contacted the supplier who have pointed him to some ambiguous text on their website to say that handsets may be non UK.

Aside from no eSIM support and some missing LTE base bands, should he expect any further issues? Specifically around support in the UK.

Personally I thought Apple were very strict about selling phones from their given region (especially from a “reputable” supplier). They have so far refused to refund (unfortunately it wasn’t purchased with a credit card), he’s happy to push harder, if there’s reason to, but he’s understandable concerned about support and re-sale.

Cheers