When will Apple finally release iPhone 7 unlocked

@ Deepak,

Are you going to use this mobile (t-mobile full paid unlocked) in India? If Yes, India has all service providers as GSM.

@itekNik,

Even I am thinking of buying iPhone 7 to be used in India. Which one do you suggest? Lot of forum seems to recommending TMobile version which is unlocked fully paid? Do you feel it will work in India.

Thanks,

Milind

Buying a t-mobile iPhone from apple for full price does NOT mean you can use any sim once you receive it. First you have to ACTIVATE it with T-MOBILE. Then you can use it with any gsm carrier even international as long as its a gsm carrier. It is already unlocked but it MUST be activated first.

Dear sir, i'm from Dubai and i'm visiting charlotte now , purchased iPhone 7 plus the T mobile one .the iPhone is unlocked "Unlocked iPhone with T-Mobile SIM" the AT&T one is""Unlocked iPhone connected to AT&T"" so your iPhones from T mobile will be unlocked but you have to remove the sim card before you switch it on and then install the one you have then connect your iPhone to your laptop by usb cable comes with phone , using iTunes to finish the setup and it works without any problem .

Thank you Mohamad....very helpful. I still hope the sim free comes out soon! Thank you!

Initially Phil this news excited me to no end. But my question is this, is apple releasing a completely unlocked iPhone 7 in November? I do not feel comfortable trying to guess which iPhone I may need to operate in other countries. I went by the store near me and they seemed very unsure if it would work and told me that if anything were to go wrong with the phone and I had to exchange it I would get a completely locked phone to the initial carrier it was supposed to go to. Is this also true?

Hello All,

as i promise will report the out come so the phone to get would be Verizon one fully paid cannot be on a paying plan or any other program that are being offer by Apple or the carriers. And that phone works on all carriers so far I have tried on more than 20 different carriers and all functions are working perfectly normal no issues at all. As far the question is if phone breaks and you want to bring it back for replacement you will get the same phone back meaning same speck fully unlocked they will not give you locked phone. So if you get Verizon full pay phone that works with all carriers Voice and Data LTE HOPE THIS HELPS.

this is true,all you need to do is removing T mobile SIM card before you switch it on, and it works for me

Many people replying to this question are obviously confused and don't know what they are talking about. Currently, whether or not you pay full price, you must choose a carrier when purchasing an iPhone 7. Until Apple releases the SIM-Free & Unlocked version, there is no way around this.

Yes, paying full price means the phone is unlocked, but you MUST first activate the phone on the network of the carrier you selected on purchase. Only after this activated, you can remove the carrier's SIM card and use the phone on any other carrier you choose. Prior to activation on your initially chosen carrier's network, the phone will NOT work on any other network even though it is unlocked. This means, amongst other things, that buying a phone, choosing T-Mobile and removing the T-Mobile SIM prior to activation expecting the phone will work on any other carrier is a very, very stupid idea. It simply will not work with iPhone 7.

Regarding the warranty, again many posters have given incorrect answers. Apple will most certainly honor the warranty even though you attempt to obtain service outside the country of purchase. Apple is well aware that God invented airplanes that people use for international travel often brininging their cell phones with them. The only issue is that should your phone need to be replaced while overseas the Apple Store may not have the same model number iPhone available as your original iPhone. If you dont mind this and indicate you are willing to accept a different model number (we are not talking about different color or memory size), Apple will replace a defective phone under warranty outside of the US. I have done this several times. I would recommend, however, that if you are going to use your phone overseas that you strongly consider purchasing Apple Care.

NO you wrong T mobile phone not connected it's unlocked phone with T mobile sim I have one all you need to do is removing that sim comes with phone before you switch it on then you can install your AT&T or any international sim as long as they are connected to GSM network and you aren't under contract or upgrade program then connected to your iTunes and finish the setup, done

PHil0124 answer is true

Just to clarify:

0p3raGh05t wrote:

Many people replying to this question are obviously confused and don't know what they are talking about. Currently, whether or not you pay full price, you must choose a carrier when purchasing an iPhone 7. Until Apple releases the SIM-Free & Unlocked version, there is no way around this.

This is correct. You must choose one of the 4 available carriers in the U.S. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint or T-Mobile. At this time, there is no Sim-Free unlocked version at the time of this writing. This can change later.

0p3raGh05t wrote:

Yes, paying full price means the phone is unlocked, but you MUST first activate the phone on the network of the carrier you selected on purchase. Only after this activated, you can remove the carrier's SIM card and use the phone on any other carrier you choose. Prior to activation on your initially chosen carrier's network, the phone will NOT work on any other network even though it is unlocked. This means, amongst other things, that buying a phone, choosing T-Mobile and removing the T-Mobile SIM prior to activation expecting the phone will work on any other carrier is a very, very stupid idea. It simply will not work with iPhone 7.

This is wrong in multiple spots. You must have active service when selecting either AT&T, Verizon or Sprint, or choose to activate service with them at the moment of purchase yes. This is verified by requesting your phone number when buying the iPhone.

However the iPhone is still unlocked and can be used with any carrier at any moment. You can remove the sim card once you receive it and it will work with any other sim card but you still have to deal with the active service of the chosen carrier at that point

Unlocked still means unlocked from the get go.

Selecting T-Mobile does not require active service. You don't even have to provide a number. And it is in fact unlocked out of the box.

As I said, if you want an unlocked iPhone and have no active service with any carrier choose T-Mobile.

0p3raGh05t wrote:

Regarding the warranty, again many posters have given incorrect answers. Apple will most certainly honor the warranty even though you attempt to obtain service outside the country of purchase.

This is again extremely wrong.

The Warranty for iPhones is only valid and has only ever been valid in the country of purchase. Apple most of the time will not honor the warranty outside the country of purchase simply because models do in fact do vary from country to country, and the exact model may not be available outside the country of purchase.

It is possible they'll make exceptions sure, but the general rule is they will not honor the warranty outside the country. This has been fully and clearly proven many many many times by many many many people in these forums and stated by Apple themselves in their terms of service and upon asking Apple representatives in stores.

This should not be stated as the norm as it is not, and many people will find the warranty will not be honored.

Hello Guys ok please read my post I have tested all phones that's why I gave a clear answer to everyone not sure why we keep on saying things that are not true. Warranty only valid in the country you bought the phone in.

AT&T

Phone need to be activated regardless full price or not plus once activated will not work on Verizon or Sprint and few other carries they use CDMA or EDVO bands.

TMO

Once paid full price phone is fully unlocked and just remove the SIM card before turning on for the first time and put your carrier SIM card and follow the process on screen this also will not work on Verizon or Sprint and few other carries they use CDMA or EDVO bands.

Sprint

Phone is fully locked and will not be unlocked unless request is made to sprint and they will unlock it once the contract is completely paid and phone is paid

Verizon

Phone is fully unlocked if you pay full price do not need to activate with Verizon just remove SIM card and put your carrier SIM card and follow the screen process of your carrier the phone is fully unlocked once paid in full price only and bought in Apple Store only.

True 😎

I've been following the conversation for some time now and In my personal opinion anyone interested in getting an iPhone 7 with no network connectivity issues should just wait for the SIM-Free Version. I live in Ghana and i almost bought the iPhone 7 on T-mobile since it was "unlocked" but then i realized that even though its "unlocked" i may have some issues connecting to a CDMA network. My best bet is to wait for the SIM-Free Version. I really hope apple makes it available soon. Kinda getting tired of waiting LOL

Why do so many people not tell the truth here and invent stories? Or are you writing about the iPhone 6 and 6S series and foolishly assume the 7 is the same?

Apple has already stated that the full-priced iPhone 7 is unlocked, but must be activated on one of the four carriers beforehand. Apple has already stated there are NO exceptions until they release the SIM-Free & Unlocked versions.

I and my neighbor bought several iPhones. I bought a Sprint phone at full price. After activation, I inserted a China Mobile SIM card and it worked. My son took it to Hong Kong and it worked both on Sprint roaming and also when inserting a HK Telecom SIM.

My neighbor bought two full-priced T-Mobile iPhones. After removing the T-Mobile SIM the phone was impossible to activate. Inserting China Mobile SIM cards, the phones would not activate. Inserting HK Telecom SIM cards resulted also in activation not possible. He had to return the phones at the Apple Store where they promptly told him the phone MUST be first activated on the T-Mobile network.

Regarding warranty service, you must certainly can get warranty service overseas. I've had two iPads completely replaced overseas. Granted, both were on Apple Care and at first the Apple Store resisted, but after they checked with Apple Care they replaced them. We had an iPhone 6S replaced overseas. We had to agree to accept a different model number since they didn't carry the specific model number we had, but they did replace it. Maybe this wouldn't work in some third-world cesspool like Ghana, but it works in civilized Europe and also Hong Kong.

Some posters may need remedial reading classes. Try reading the actual Apple warranty document that comes with your phone. "Apple *MAY* restrict warranty service to the country where you purchased your device." May. As in maybe will, depending on model availability and customer acceptance of alternate models. Reading really is fundamental, folks.