Best Buy today announced that it now sells unlocked iPhones in the U.S., but only older models are available, including the iPhone 12, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13, and third-generation iPhone SE. An unlocked iPhone can be used with a wide variety of carriers. The unlocked iPhones are in brand new condition and are available at all Best Buy stores and on BestBuy.com starting today, a Best Buy spokesperson said in an email.

Best Buy already sold iPhones locked to AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile, and availability of unlocked models will give customers more flexibility. Best Buy operates over 1,000 stores across the U.S., including in many communities that lack an Apple Store.

Best Buy is not carrying unlocked iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Pro models at this time.

Article Link: Best Buy Now Sells Unlocked iPhones, But Not the Latest Models

Shame it doesn't apply to the latest iPhone 14 models yet. Still it's a step in the right direction now you can get iPhone 12 or 13 models unlocked. At least you can have that Totaltech subscription coverage in the states for a year (includes AppleCare + monthly) max 24 months.

Carrier-locked phones... such a stupid concept. No reason for this aside from carriers trying to prevent a customer from leaving for another service provider

sw1tcher said:

Carrier-locked phones... such a stupid concept. No reason for this aside from carriers trying to prevent a customer from leaving for another service provider

Carriers tend to always pushing the latest models with sign up deals. I always wondered what percentage of iPhones are sold by the big three vs everything else?

Realityck said:

People that buy the latest iPhone 14 models tend to go with one of the three wireless providers anyway. Still now you can get iPhone 12 or 13 models unlocked which makes this a acceptable option.

I stopped buying carrier-locked iPhones a very long time ago. I only purchase unlocked iPhones. Cellular Service works like magic simultaneously! 📶

This is actually kind of nice. It means we COULD see some good sales later this year during the holidays
(Assuming that somehow the supply chain isn't still ****ed six ways to Sunday)

Realityck said:

Still now you can get iPhone 12 or 13 models unlocked which makes this a acceptable option.

You can find unlocked iPhone 12 and 13 for less from Apple's refurb store though.

Unlocked 128GB iPhone 13 is $729.99 at Best Buy vs unlocked 128GB iPhone 13 from Apple Refurb for $619.99.

Best Buy's selling unlocked 64GB iPhone 12 for $629.99

I see no deal with Best Buy.

All come with their very own sim tray 🎁

I thought BB already sold unlocked iPhones... Weren't people having issues with BB sold models locking to the first sim that was inserted despite them being sold at the full MSRP?

sw1tcher said:

Carrier-locked phones... such a stupid concept. No reason for this aside from carriers trying to prevent a customer from leaving for another service provider

To be slightly more fair: the carriers will still often partially subsidize the phone in one way or another and will generally unlock the phone when fully paid off.
There also used to be tech differences between the carriers (GSM, CDMA) and certain IMEIs would only work on specific carriers, so there used to be slightly more behind it, too.

I didn't know carriers in the US were still allowed to lock phones. It's been banned in Canada for a while.

Realityck said:

People that buy the latest iPhone 14 models tend to go with one of the three wireless providers anyway. Still now you can get iPhone 12 or 13 models unlocked which makes this an acceptable option.

Yes, the big three Carriers. The catch, 2 or more years stuck with a carrier. If a deal comes along with another carrier, a hassle to move. Unlocked phone, just move. Gives one much more leverage with their current carrier, a bonus.

There are still locked iPhones in 2023? Had no idea 🤯 this takes me back to the iPhone 3G being Telekom exclusive here

TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️ said:

I stopped buying carrier-locked iPhones a very long time ago. I only purchase unlocked iPhones. Cellular Service works like magic simultaneously! 📶

View attachment 2185347

I have Verizon and T-Mobile dual sim and the simultaneous data service is awesome. People are missing out.

Most folks are forgetting the other benefit of unlocked phones: no carrier bloatware. You can't uninstall the carrier bloatware, not even with root access.😣

just buy refurb, whats the point of buying an old iPhone new?

oofio2461 said:

just buy refurb, whats the point of buying an old iPhone new?

Better reliability. Refurb iPhones even after Apple replaces the battery and chassis, still use salvaged components including the logic board and display. Defects resulting in poor solder connections are cumulative from repeated drops.

AppleTO said:

I didn't know carriers in the US were still allowed to lock phones. It's been banned in Canada for a while.

sw1tcher said:

Carrier-locked phones... such a stupid concept. No reason for this aside from carriers trying to prevent a customer from leaving for another service provider

Welcome to deregulation of the FCC under the Trump administration, along with the death of Net Neutrality in the United States

It's not an understatement how backwards we've become in the span of four years. Biden's administration has been mainly undoing Trump's f***ups

oofio2461 said:

just buy refurb, whats the point of buying an old iPhone new?

Well aside from the fact you're guaranteed no marks or scratches on the screen, guaranteed a fresh battery, guaranteed no degradation of the flash storage, guaranteed no scratches on the cameras, guaranteed no issues regardless.

Refurbished is an excellent option but there is the slim chance something is wrong with the phone that the refurbished process missed. Example: When Jonathan Horst of LMG's Mac Address bought a refurbished M1 Macbook Air off of the Apple Refurbished Store, the Mac was in demo mode, so Apple sold him a store demo model by accident (fortunately they did exchange it for a proper refurb)

Mousse said:

Most folks are forgetting the other benefit of unlocked phones: no carrier bloatware. You can't uninstall the carrier bloatware, not even with root access.😣

Or the fact you can use it as a pocket computer without any cellular required since Apple unceremoniously killed the iPod last year so if you want a DAP that runs iOS, an unlocked iPhone is your only option.

kenny7 said:

I have Verizon and T-Mobile dual sim and the simultaneous data service is awesome. People are missing out.

I'm probably gonna get a Verizon dual sim soon because god damn AT&T's data coverage is so bad.

Mrkevinfinnerty said:

All come with their very own sim tray 🎁

I'm sorry man but the sim tray is probably gonna get headphone jack'd soon as more carriers are adopting eSIM with Apple's move, as rumors are the iPhone 15 will be cutting the SIM tray for Europe and Canada next.

TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️ said:

I stopped buying carrier-locked iPhones a very long time ago. I only purchase unlocked iPhones. Cellular Service works like magic simultaneously! 📶

View attachment 2185347

For a sec there I thought this was my phone since that blurred wallpaper looks eerily familiar to mine.

cocky jeremy said:

That's kind of pointless then.

Why? The iPhone 12 and 13 are still good (hell I'd argue the 13 is better than the 14 in everyway since you got the option of a Mini with the 13.)

I haven't bought a locked iPhone since 4S came out. I hate feeling like I'm being limited for no good reasons.

Realityck said:

People that buy the latest iPhone 14 models tend to go with one of the three wireless providers anyway. Still now you can get iPhone 12 or 13 models unlocked which makes this a acceptable option.

Carrier locked phones, at this point, are really just taking advantage of people who don’t know any better. Even the “deals” a carrier might give you buying a locked phone rarely work out in your favor in the long run.

cocky jeremy said:

That's kind of pointless then.

No for ppl who buy their phones outright! Only ppl who are paying payments and stuck with a locked phone until the totally amount of the phone is paid off.

alexandr said:

I haven't bought a locked iPhone since 4S came out. I hate feeling like I'm being limited for no good reasons.

My last locked iPhone was a 7 Plus back in 2015 as Sam's Club was doing a promotion with AT&T for 128gb 7 Pluses for really cheap with a 2 year plan with AT&T, and since we already had AT&T it was a no brainer to upgrade from our 5s

I now just buy unlocked iPhones directly from Apple now

Is this malpractice with locked phones still a thing in the world??? It disappeared in Sweden ages ago (with the subsidies too of course, but nothing is free as we all know).

MrKennedy said:

I thought BB already sold unlocked iPhones... Weren't people having issues with BB sold models locking to the first sim that was inserted despite them being sold at the full MSRP?

Exactly. Even if you pay full price, iPhones (now iPhone 14, anyway) are not UNLOCKED from BBY.