Unlocked iPhone 5 vs. Unlocked iPhone 5

What’s new with Apple 5?

Apple’s all-new design featured by the iPhone 5 was made from anodized aluminum with diamond-cut precise beveled edges at 112 grams and 7.6 mm. It is considered as one of the thinnest and lightest phone. It comes in three storage capacities; the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacity and a brilliant 4-inch Retina display. The iPhone 5 has an exceptional battery life even with the powerful A6 chip that makes the CPU and graphics performance are twice as fast.

It also supports the latest wireless technologies so you can connect to more networks. And the good thing is that Apple also made modifications to Wi-Fi making the connection much faster.

Apple-unlocked iPhone 5

Apple recently released their own version of ‘Unlocked’ iPhone 5 with a starting price of $649 for a 16GB capacity, with 32GB capacity it is $749, and $849 for a 64GB capacity and can be purchased either with T-Mobile SIM bundle or totally SIM-free. If you opted for a T-Mobile SIM bundle, it will have a nano-SIM card pre-installed and can activate by going to a T-Mobile store or by calling T-Mobile Technical Support. Another option is to visit an Apple Retail Store. If you opted for a SIM-free iPhone 5, you can purchase any GSM-compatible SIM but this will only run on GSM networks and is not supported by CDMA carriers like Verizon Wireless or Sprint.

Apple iPhone 5 bundled with a wireless service plan

If you would like to purchase it with a wireless service plan, you can have it for as low as $199 and an increment of $100 going to the next higher capacity. Note that if you choose AT&T for your service provider, it will use either GSM or the LTE cellular technology for services requiring data processing, while it will have GSM cellular technology for voice-based services. If you choose to have Sprint or Verizon Wireless, it will run using CDMA for voice and either CDMA or LTE cellular technology for data. If you plan to go outside the U.S., you will have an option of getting phone service to over 200 GSM wireless carriers around the world.

Unlocking the bundled

Let us make some comparison: iPhone offers the same features regardless whether you choose to have a wireless carrier bundle or SIM-free. So what will be the difference between an Apple-unlocked iPhone 5 versus user-initiated unlocking of iPhone 5?

$100, that’s a big difference and this, is how it will happen. Purchase an iPhone 5 64GB for $399 with any of the 3 network carrier. After which, inform them formally of your intention to get out from the contract and you will be ask to pay for Early Termination Fee (ETF) of $350. By now you have already paid for $749. Compare to the price of an Apple-unlocked 64GB iPhone 5 for $849 and we know the difference.

And then, you can always have the iPhone unlocked by tools you can get online developed for this specific purpose, at a much lesser price.

After having the iPhone 5 unlocked, you will have the freedom to select your preferred network carrier. You don’t even need to choose between the four major wireless carriers since there are lots of service provider that carries GSM and CDMA network, both of whom can accommodate iPhone 5. You will also have access to Cydia, which offers tons of apps, themes and extensions compared to App Store.