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There’s been an open secret among customers that use Apple products: if you buy direct from Apple, you’ll get an unlocked device.
Buying an iPhone direct from Apple’s website, even with carrier financing deals, allowed you to receive an unlocked phone right from the start that worked with international carriers as well as other domestic carriers than the one you financed with. That’s now changing.
Carrier Financed Devices Will Now Be Locked
As first spotted by users on the r/tmobile subreddit, Apple’s FAQ now states that devices purchased via installment on a US carrier will come locked to that carrier.
Specifically, this is new for users financing via T-Mobile or Verizon. AT&T customers buying at Apple directly have had their devices locked for a while already.
This is a bigger deal than you might think. Customers have long taken advantage of this particular perk when upgrading to new iPhones, because it allows you to change your SIM to a different carrier, or even dual sim for better coverage, without having to pay off the device first.
Doing this gave you the best of both worlds: you could take advantage of a carrier promo (like $1,100 off an iPhone at T-Mobile, for example), and also receive an unlocked device.
As seen below, Apple has an FAQ question at the bottom of their product pages that asks “Will my new iPhone be unlocked?” that explains the change.
It is worth noting that this only applies to devices purchased on installment from a carrier via the Apple website. Devices purchased outright via Apple directly still come unlocked.
Policy Change Due To Abuse?
It’s easy to come to the conclusion that carriers wanted customers to be locked into their installments, and thus Apple changed the policy to make them happy. But there’s another possibility: fraud.
There is a high probability that some bad actors out there were buying these devices unlocked via installment with a carrier (especially if they gained illegitimate access to a person’s carrier account), and then reselling them as unlocked without paying the installment. That would get them a quick buck and end up screwing over the person that buys the device.
On the other hand, it could also just be pure corporate greed. Locked devices force customers to stick with a carrier even if they want to leave, because otherwise they’d have to pay off the entire device before they could unlock it.
On T-Mobile, for example, if you’re receiving bill credits as part of a device promotion, you must finish that entire two-year commitment to keep the credits. If you pay it off early, you forfeit the remaining credits.
The new change appears to be in effect now, so there’s no more free unlocked devices moving forward.
