Buy without a carrier (abroad)

Question

Level 1

8 points

Buy without a carrier (abroad)

Hello, I'm from Venezuela and I want to buy an unlocked IPhone from the main page of Apple, but I have the doubt if I buy it "Buy without a carrier" it says "Activate with any carrier later" does it mean it isn't an unlocked phone? is it only usable with the U.S. carries? or can I ship the phone directly to any country without the concern of the activation?

Has any of you bought the phone from Apple web page and shipped to another country an use it without any problem? I just don't want to buy it from amazon.

Posted on Oct 2, 2017 5:15 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Lawrence Finch

Level 10

202,146 points

Oct 2, 2017 5:27 PM in response to mayauribe

If you select "buy without a carrier" the phone will be unlocked. But you can only buy an iPhone in the country where it will be delivered using a credit card with a billing address of that country. In other words, you would have to travel to the country where you want to buy it; it can not be shipped to another country. And the warranty will only be honored in the country where you bought it.

Reply

Answer 2

mayauribe Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 2, 2017 5:58 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thank you for your answer. My question remains since I don't have a problem to buy it nor isn't the shipping because I have an US credit card and will be shipped to a US address to the freight forwarder. The box will arrive to me directly to my country and I know will work because the carriers here use the same bands. My concern is that I won't be in the US to activate it if necessary.

Imagine that you buy it yourself through the web and when the iPhone arrives at your address you don't have time to open the box because you go to the airport to travel to another country, and when you arrive outside the US you put whatever sim from that country, will it work as soon as you take it out of the box? or you needed to open it in the US and activate it with any US carrier? that's my concern.

Reply

Answer 3

Oct 2, 2017 6:02 PM in response to mayauribe

If you buy it directly from Apple as an unlocked phone you can activate it with a local carrier in any country. It does not have to be activated in the country of purchase. However, you must buy it directly from Apple. It is not true for resellers of Apple products. All resellers require that the phone be activated in the US.

The one remaining issue the shipping address must match the billing address for the credit card.

Reply