HalaMadrid Posted August 9, 2010 at 08:03 PM Report Share Posted August 9, 2010 at 08:03 PM Hey, I will be moving to Beijing shortly and am interested in bringing an iPhone with. Is it better to buy a locked iPhone in the USA and find a place to unlock it in Beijing, or buy a new phone there? Is it easy to unlock? Are iPhones in China locked to a specific carrier? Thank you for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathtrap Posted August 9, 2010 at 08:27 PM Report Share Posted August 9, 2010 at 08:27 PM If you buy an iPhone from anywhere, and it's locked, then unlocking it is dead simple you could do it on your own in 5 minutes. In the US the iPhone is locked to AT&T so you have to unlock it to use with any other carrier. In Canada they sell unlocked iPhones straight from the carrier. I don't know about China. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane_PA Posted August 9, 2010 at 10:43 PM Report Share Posted August 9, 2010 at 10:43 PM I know a little about iPhone in China. The following is heard about, no direct experience. Some people bought iPhone in the U.S. and brought back to China. They can pay about $20 somewhere in China to unlock the iphone, then use it. But, there is a problem. That is, when iPhone upgrades the software system, you need to unlock again, otherwise, you cannot upgrade your iPhone. I never used an iPhone and not sure how much this defect would affect the iPhone user. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenArrow45 Posted August 10, 2010 at 12:54 AM Report Share Posted August 10, 2010 at 12:54 AM Apparently prices for iPhones differ a bit from city to city in China, but, in general, you're going to save money by buying an iPhone in the US and bringing it over. Not to mention, depending on where the iPhone you buy in China comes from, it may not be compatible with certain applications (for national security reasons of course). I wouldn't recommend having someone ship you an iPhone though. I did that and the postal service workers in China stole it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gato Posted August 10, 2010 at 03:20 AM Report Share Posted August 10, 2010 at 03:20 AM I will be moving to Beijing shortly and am interested in bringing an iPhone with. Is it better to buy a locked iPhone in the USA and find a place to unlock it in Beijing, or buy a new phone there? Is it easy to unlock? Are iPhones in China locked to a specific carrier? Are you able to buy a contract-less iPhone 4 in the US right now? I thought you have to sign up for 2 years with AT&T. Most iPhones sold in China are smuggled in from the US or HK. Since US iPhones are locked, the dealers usually unlock it for you on the spot. "Jail-breaking" programs used to unlock the iPhone 4 just came out recently, so they haven't yet been fully road tested. Unlocking/jail-breaking previous generations of iPhone has been pretty easy. There are programs you can download from the internet that provide you a one-click solution, but if you are not comfortable with technical things, you might still be a bit uncomfortable with the process. You should also be aware of the SIM card issue. Like the iPad, iPhone 4 also uses a "micro SIM card", which is smaller than the regular SIM cards most phones use. Right now, you have to use a cutter to cut down a regular SIM card to the size of a micro SIM card in order to use it on the iPhone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members beijingiphonerepair.com Posted August 30, 2010 at 04:14 AM New Members Report Share Posted August 30, 2010 at 04:14 AM iPhones from the US need to be unlocked first. There are plenty of places to do it in Beijing, just be careful when using the service in areas like Zhongguancun etc. iPhone 4 will be officially launched in China Sept 16, 2010. Currently they are being sold in the grey market with overly inflated price! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prodigal Son Posted September 5, 2010 at 05:02 PM Report Share Posted September 5, 2010 at 05:02 PM You can get an unlocked iPhone 4 in Hong Kong for 5,000 HKD (about 4,000rmb). That's what I'd do. That's what I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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