Buying an iPhone 4 from a Canadian carrier? It’s locked

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July 30, 2010

We’ve been tipped this morning (and have now been able to confirm, thanks to our own Myriam Joire braving the lines) that if you buy an iPhone 4 in a Canadian carrier’s store today, you leave with it locked to that carrier — despite Apple’s trumpeting that you can buy it SIM-free. It appears as though the activation process might be responsible for causing the carrier lock — either that, or the carriers’ subsidized models are shipped locked, unlike the full-price devices you can buy directly from Apple. Either way, it’s a bummer, and it’s certainly something to take into consideration before you buy.

[Thanks, Chris]

Update: We’ve now confirmed that the lock is happening at the time the phone is activated — in other words, it begins life carrier-agnostic. Pretty wild stuff.

Buying an iPhone 4 from a Canadian carrier? It’s locked originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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