iPhone 5s sim-free (A1453) in Japan

Because we purchased the "sim free" iphones, they were able to re-format them and then re-activate them. I guess when it's re-activated, it'll just be locked to whatever carrier you get. However, I believe you can just format and re-activate it yourself, so in my case, it wasn't locked to Softbank forever. I'm not 100% sure I could do it myself though, they did it for me."

So the Japanese A1453 "sim free" iphone 5S will lock every time you put a sim card in it. But you can format and "re-activate the phone" using a different sim card and it'll then be locked to that carriera

So it's kind of locked & unlockable at the same time, that's the best way I can describe it. The only downside would be you can't change out the sim card without re-formating your phone. Why they do it this way, I don't know, it might as well just be unlocked... Why the hassle with formmating to get a new carrier in it each tim

NOTE: whatever sim card you activate the iphone with, will be the carrier that is locked on the "sim free" phone untill it's formamted, and re-activated with a new sim card.

That is the difference between unlocked and sim free. Unfortunately, the nature of a sim free phone means that it will lock to the carrier of the first sim card that put into the phone, which is not truly unlocked. Unlocked means that you can switch sim cards in and out of the phone as you wish to and the only place to buy a fully unlocked iPhone is directly from an Apple store.

So now you know that unlocked is NOT the same as sim free. Buyer beware.

It is still very confusing though. From what you said it locks to the carrier of the first card, which is true, and what everyone else says. But what everyone forgets to mention, is even though it locks, it can be unlocked and reverted back to it's "sim free" status with no lock on it any more by re-formating the phone from itunes.
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So saying the sim free locks to the first carrier, isn't 100% accurate. It does lock technically, but it can be easily unlocked and then re-locked to a new carrier when re-formating the device and re-activating it with a different carrier's sim card.

The only difference between this device and an unlocked one, is the fact that you have to reset/re-format the device everytime and re-authenticate with another carrier, it's dumb.

However, I simply don't trust SoftBank to unlock my phone and I'm not going to play with it any more, I'm sticking with AT&T, locally and internationally when I travel. I just went to 12 different countries and buying sim cards and changing them out is a complete hassle, not worth it.

Hi wmahler, Thanks for all the info, so useful!

I too am planning to get a sim-free iphone when I visit Japan this November.

So, reading from your experience, I guess it's possible if I buy a Sim-Free iphone from Apple Store in Tokyo (ginza/omotesando, not online) and not activate it, until I'm back to my country and insert my own SIM card?

In your experience, was the iphone activation in Japanese or automatically adjust to the SIM card?

cheers

All iPhones sold in Japan are locked to a carrier, and none of the Japanese carries offer unlocking.

As of May 2015 it is possible to move between carriers. I am not sure what happens if I go to another country. Do you have any more info?
Walt