scrubbedexpat027

Anyone know if it will be all good to buy an unlocked iPhone 6 from the Apple Store in the U.S. for use with a UK sim when I move back.

It's $649 vs around £600 in the UK.

I've got a plug adaptor, but anyone know if an O2 or other UK sim will work fine?

michali

I brought over an unlocked 5S last year and had no problem. Just go into any provider and get your SIM when you get here.

durham_lad

We have been assured that this will work, and bought an unlocked iPhone 6 earlier this year. Will find out next year if it will work out as advised.

scrubbedexpat027

I've been researching this all day. It works out around £100 cheaper to buy in the US for an iPhone 6 16GB (when you add in 7% California Tax).

BUT, there are 2 versions and it gets quite complex as to which one will be the best (Unlocked to T-Mobile unlocked). Then they weren't sure if they would honor the warranty in the UK.

Throw in that you would need an adaptor for the charger, as I might just wait and buy a UK one.

durham_lad

A UK USB adapter costs a few pounds at max.


I need an iPhone that will be moving with me back and forth between the US and UK and can buy it cheaper in the US than in the UK. (I actually already have an iPad and several UK/US adapters and use my US USB adapter that came with my iPad when going back and forth to the UK with problems).

scrubbedexpat027

Which one did you go for out of the 2 unlocked versions?

durham_lad

I just went to the Apple store and bought an iPhone 6 without a plan and then went to my local AT&T store and got a $50/month plan, $25/month for a second phone (my wife's) with 1GB shared data.

We are currently traveling in Canada for a couple of months so have just been paying $30/month extra to get roaming which provides 120MB/month which has been more than ample as we only use roaming for Google Maps from time to time. When I want to make phone calls (rare) I use Skype on the iPhone while in wifi or use roaming data (~2c/min for calls to Canada and the UK).

When we spend 6 months in the UK next year we plan to get a UK sim plan for 1 of the phones.

scrubbedexpat027

This is how complex it gets:

All Differences Between iPhone 6 Models @ EveryiPhone.com

There are 4 models sold in the US (all with slightly different network support). The Global/Sprint A1586 is the one sold in the UK.

scrubbedexpat027

Got it now. The A1586 is the one sold at the US apple store as SIM Unlocked. This is the one you have and is the same as the UK one. The other A1549 model is the one sold on the US apple store as T-Mobile Unlocked.

In that case I may as well pick one up and save me the £100.

durham_lad

Excellent, that all sounds about right, I would not have known the model numbers.

rpjs

I have a Verizon iPhone 6. Verizon is a CDMA-based, i.e. SIM-less, network but the phone has a SIM for overseas roaming. The SIM slot is unlocked and I've successfully used a British SIM in it.

Dundee15

I bought my unlocked iPhone 6 from the apple store in boston just before I left for the UK. I set it up with my AT&T account at that time so I could use it in the US for the last few weeks and then I had EE send a pay as you go sim card to my family here in UK. My son brought the sim with him to the airport when he came to collect us and all I had to do was take out the AT&T sim and insert the EE sim. I worked with no issues and after one month of using the EE pay as you go I was able to convert it to a sim only plan. I went to the Apple store here in Scotland and was able to buy the UK plug adaptor so I did not have to keep using a travel plug. They also told me that if you buy from an Apple store then the warranty is global.

windsong

I bought my iPhone 6 at a U.S. Apple Store (unlocked). All I had to do was put a UK provider SIM card in it. Works perfectly and the 6 is such a great phone! I got the regular size 6 because the 6 plus was too big for my hand. However, my friend bought the 6 plus because he has bigger hands and finds it better.