Excuse the old man question, but if I buy an iPhone 16 Pro Max outright, with no carrier. I can set it up with my current carrier easily?
Excuse the old man question, but if I buy an iPhone 16 Pro Max outright, with no carrier. I can set it up with my current carrier easily?
Buying one through Apple online at the moment, but it’s roughly $1300 with taxes. So I have myself a little nervous at the cost. Thanks in advance for answering. 👍
Generally speaking, yes. Verify that your current provider supports it.
Having said that, your provider may offer you a deal. Of course ymmv
Don’t get it from your carrier unless you’re ok with it being locked down in weird ways. For instance: hot spotting works great on my iPhone that I got straight from Apple, and my mobile isp is Verizon. I know someone who’s in the same boat, but got their phone from Verizon, and hot spotting does not work.
I currently have T-Mobile and I’m due and upgrade. I just don’t want the shenanigans of buying through them or paying extra monthly. So I would imagine they won’t throw a fit? 🤔
They'll usually let you bring you own hardware. As long as you buy one that is not carrier locked it will work (if you're buying it in a store, ask the staff to be sure it's unlocked)
If your old SIM card doesn't fit you might have to ask your carrier to send a new one, or you can ask for eSIM setup (log into your carrier account, scan a Qr code)
They won't care if you bring your own device unlocked. If you're buying from Apple's website or another 3rd party, it should give the option to select the version between unlocked or carrier specific options like Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile.
You can buy the locked version from T-Mobile outright if it's cheaper. If you ever want to change carriers you can get it unlocked after a certain amount of time around 90 days.
Edit: Based on your other comments, you're buying from Apple directly. The last question relates to if the device is carrier locked. Choose "Connect to any carrier later".
I've been using unlocked Android phones with Tmobile for 6 or 7 years now without issue.
they will also sell you a locked one cheaper that is then unlocked when you pay it off
Yeah, should tell you it’s unlocked at checkout. Just don’t select a provider. Then, contact yours and ask for instructions to set it up.
New iPhones bought from Apple that are unlocked “connect to any carrier later” work on all the networks in the us. Once upon a time, there was an “unlocked” phone - meaning you could change the sim and the phone wasn’t locked to a contract. But you still had to match the phone to the major carrier. For example, an att phone could be unlocked, and then used on straighttalk (becasue straighttalk resold att network). But it wouldn’t work on Verizon or T-Mobile because they were different networks.
That’s not a thing anymore with iPhones and hasn’t been for a long time. An unlocked iPhone can be used with any carrier that supports esims.
If your old phone is still on a contract - you may not be able to transfer the phone number, or have to request an unlock, or any other shenanigans. But the new iPhone will still work on whatever network you take it to.
Ideally, your contract is done, you buy new unlocked iPhone, you take it to your existing or a new carrier, you say “I bought a new unlocked phone, I want to set it up new, and I want you to transfer my number” a prime time carrier will just make this happen for you. A reseller can be a little more of a pain in the arse.
Personally I’ve been happy with the prepaid plans from straight talk - despite their setup process sucking. If you call them and get a person to help it goes pretty smooth. And the service is indistinguishable for a much cheaper price once it’s setup. I’m pretty sure this goes for most resellers.
Good luck - you’ll be fine!
Once upon a time, there was an “unlocked” phone - meaning you could change the sim and the phone wasn’t locked to a contract. But you still had to match the phone to the major carrier.
Ah yes, those confusing GSM/CDMA days. They were like 2g or 3g tech (not sure), but eventually they all converged with 4G and VoLTE. I'm so glad that bs was done.
That’s what I was worried about lol, glad those days are over and I can just pick “Connect to any Carrier later” option.
I’m debating on whether larger storage is worth it, 256GB to 512GB for $200 more. Any thoughts? Appreciate the detailed feedback.
For what it’s worth, choosing the T-Mobile option wouldn’t lock it to T-Mobile. It just includes some extra setup stuff, IIRC. If you’re buying it from Apple it isn’t carrier locked (with the exception of an AT&T installment plan, not sure if they still offer that).
I have 256 GB and have a “family” 2TB iCloud plan. I sync to iCloud for everything and have it set to automatically manage storage. I’d only buy a larger phone if you either don’t use iCloud or if you plan to take a lot of photos or plan to use the iPhone for filming.
Yes, as long as you don't buy it from a carrier, or buy a carrier specific version from some 3rd party seller it will work. Typically if you buy from a 3rd party seller and ask for "an iphone" you'll get the unlocked version, but some stores only carry carrier locked versions so they should ask what carrier you have first. If they do make sure you ask for the unlocked version.
If you're in the US you'll need to deal with eSIM setup, if you're in the rest of the world just pop your sim card in and it will work.
Depending on the US carrier you could have a physical sim too! And e sim is possible on some EU carriers. But generally speaking that's right
If you are in Canada they have to sell them unlocked. Not sure your location.
I remember when I bought my iPhone 3GS back in the day.
The only option was to buy it carrier locked on a one or two year plan in my country. Of course it was exclusive to a carrier that wasn't my choice of carrier.
I signed up, put it in a drawer and waited for the imminent jailbreak and unlocked modem firmware. It dropped two weeks later. After that one year of payments they unlocked it through official means.
USA? You'd be doing eSim and depending on carrier, it might be just loggining in and set up eSim, or if its T-Mobile, they have dumbass requirement for you to contact customer support for eSim, so that may take up to an hour.
If its non-USA, and you have a physical sim, just put in sim and its ready.
If you have an existing iPhone with T-Mobile, you can activate it with your previous phone which is much easier than calling customer support.
(As far as I know) That technically isn't directly from iphone to iphone, it needs tmobile servers to approve the transfer (since they're gonna see different imei), but who knows what weird policies tmobile might have, hopefully, they don't also require a customer service chat to do an iphone to iphome esim transfer.
It works fine. I’ve bought a couple iPhone pros from Apple to use with different carriers. One with Verizon and the other with cricket and later mint. The main difference used to be that Verizon/sprint phones supported fewer GSM bands than AT&T and T-Mobile phones, which could be relevant in Europe or Asia, but now Apple only sells one model. This time I got my phone from Verizon for “free” by trading in an obsolete iPhone with a broken screen. They claim they automatically unlock the phone after 90 days. It was about $120 out of pocket for a 16 pro.
Yep, if it's unlocked you can just hook it up to any carrier in the US. Can't speak for the rest of the world.