You can officially preorder the iPhone 4S for AT&T, Sprint and Verizon today but you’re going to have to wait a bit if you want a contract-free unlocked version.
On it’s iPhone 4S page, Apple lays out all the purchasing options for its latest flagship phone and tucked away at the bottom is this line,”Or get iPhone unlocked and contract-free. Coming in November.”
These likely won’t be cheap, as signing that long-term contract is why the mobile operators offer hundreds of dollars worth of subsidies on devices. I recently used my two-year upgrade to buy the iPhone 4, so in order to get an iPhone 4S, I’d have to shell out $649 for the 16 GB model. I’m thinking that will also be the entry-level price for an unlocked iPhone 4S.
Additionally, the iPhone 4S is a world phone that is capable of GSM and CDMA, so in theory, you should be able to take your unlocked, off-contract device to AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and other international carriers whenever you want (that have the correct bands). We’ll have to see if that actually plays out though.
Any of you planning to get this unlocked?