Early Friday morning, Apple revealed that if you’d like to purchase an unlocked iPhone 4S, you’ll be able to do so come November.While U.S. carriers Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon began accepting iPhone 4S preorders Friday, some customers may prefer a phone that’s not locked to any specific carrier. Until Friday, Apple hadn’t announced whether an unlocked iPhone 4S phone would be available. (Apple first offering an unlocked version of the iPhone 4 in June 2011.)
An option on Apple’s iPhone 4S preordering site reveals that an unlocked, carrier-free iPhone 4S will arrive in November, though Apple still hasn’t given a specific date.
Apple notes that, even though the iPhone 4S is a world phone with GSM and CDMA capabilities, the unlocked iPhone 4S can only be used with GSM carriers like AT&T. While it’s possible toget an unlocked iPhone working on T-Mobile—and even easier now that T-Mobile offers Micro-SIM cards—you’re limited to 2G speeds on T-Mobile’s network.
In the UK, you can buy the 16GB model for £499 SIM-free through Apple, with the 32GB and 64GB models costing £599 and £699 respectively. Prices for the other iPhones have been reduced to £429 for the iPhone 4 SIM-free, and £319 for the iPhone 3GS.
