0p3raGh05t wrote:
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.
iPads are not iPhones. You cannot get warranty service for iPhones outside of the country of purchase. This has been proven countless times over the years with people trying to get an iPhone repaired in a country they did not buy it and and being rejected. Actual experience, and evidence by numerous people in these forums will show that.
non-cellular iPads (Wifi only) and other apple hardware do not have this constraint and can get warranty service anywhere in the world that Apple has a presence or Authorized service providers.
Unlocking only applies to GSM. If buying a Sprint or Verizon Phone, the GSM portion can be immediately used on any GSM carrier around the world, but the CDMA portion will likely not be activated with any CDMA carrier except Sprint or Verizon.
Beyond that, yes you need active service when buying a Sprint, Verizon, or even AT&T iPhone, but, here's the real kicker, the GSM sim slot is still unlocked, so you can simply replace the sim card with a sim card from a supported GSM carrier and it will work.
Whether you still need to deal with AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint about the currently active service does not in any way stop the phone from being unlocked.
With that said, T-Mobile iPhones as has been the case since the 4s was introduced, have never required activation on T-Mobile prior to usage.
This is just a corporate line T-Mobile and Apple spew out. But again over the years, it has been proven by many many people you can in fact stick any sim card from a supported GSM carrier and the iPhone will activate.
For all those that don;t believe this, I activated a T-Mobile iPhone 7 bought at the U.S. online store with a Mexican carrier's sim card, and guess what? it activated fine.
So again, just to outline once more and attempt to pout this to rest:
1. When buying an iPhone for Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint you need active service at the moment of purchase. This means either a current number with the selected carrier, or to activate service with them at that time. This however has nothing to do with iPhone's actual activation.
2. The T-Mobile version does not require active service, or activation with them at all. Simply remove the T-Mobile sim and activate with sim card of a carrier of your choice.
3. Warranty is not, and has never been International on iPhones. Apple specifically states this.