Malcolm Owen
Apple has started to offer the iPhone XR in a SIM-free option in the United States, with the most recent iPhone release now able to be acquired without it being provisioned for one of the country's four major carriers.
New iPhone releases are usually offered to customers in the United States as being activated to work on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, or Verizon's networks, with the carrier selectable during the ordering process. A separate option to "Buy without a carrier" provides customers with a SIM-free device, which can be activated with any carrier at a later time.
For the release of the iPhone XR in the United States, the SIM-free option was notably missing, with customers forced to select a carrier if they were ordering through the online Apple Store. For customers who want to use a different carrier, this caused problems as the carrier-specific versions offered are not necessarily compatible with the other networks when unlocked, with varying support for different LTE bands.
On Thursday, Apple added the option to acquire the SIM-free version for U.S.-based customers. The SIM-free variant is usually the most compatible option for most mobile networks, and is also the handiest for travelers who would prefer an unlocked device so they can easily swap the SIM card out for a local carrier when in a foreign country.
It is unclear exactly why the SIM-free version was delayed for the iPhone XR in the United States. In other markets, SIM-free model options were offered right from when the iPhone XR was first made available.
The SIM-free version of the iPhone XR costs the same as the carrier-specific versions, priced at $749 for the 64-gigabyte capacity model and rising to $899 for the 256-gigabyte variant.
AppleInsider Staff
Oliver Haslam
Andrew O'Hara
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
11 Comments
How is the dual sim mode with this device?
I think it’s just an agreement with the major carriers to give them priority they probably pay for the privelage
There was a fifth stealth carrier on launch of all three iPhones - Xfinity Mobile which runs on the Verizon network. I got an interest free two year loan for my $1,449 GOLD 512GB Xs Max @$60 a month. Received it on launch day Friday Sept 21 - sim-free. Had to install Xfinity Mobile’s nano sim.
Unlimited Talk & Text is only $1.27 in taxes. Cell data is $12/GB but the first 100MB is free. So I just have all the Cell Data switches OFF and run all data exclusively on WiFi for free. 🤪
Comcast is Xfinity. The way it was explained to me is: Verizon was needing financial help several years ago to complete their network - Comcast helped out and is now exercising their right to use Verizon's network. And they aren't charging much for it!