Buying an iphone 14 Pro in USA

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hebman

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#300546 16-Sep-2022 21:19

I'm going to be in the USA for a few days in a few weeks and the 14 Pro works out at about $1650NZD after exchange conversion so I'm considering grabbing one while there. Does anyone know what gotcha's there might be? I'm vaguely aware of eSIM's but don't know how the phones there are configured - do they have a sim slot still? I remember from years past that USA phones had different bands, I've bought a few from ebay in my time but I think they're mostly all global banding phones these days.

Any advice greatly received - otherwise it's an interest free purchase on the $35 monthly plan on 2Degrees.

Thanks heaps!

Jiriteach

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#2969332 16-Sep-2022 21:26

Previously they worked fine in NZ since you would buy the unlocked version but the biggest issue now is they are only esim compatible with no sim tray.

Want to check that they are not only esim compatible to US carriers that support it.
If they are open to others - obviously you’ll have to a carrier in NZ that supports esim’s.

-- opinions expressed by me are solely my own. ie - personal

hebman

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#2969334 16-Sep-2022 21:35

Thanks, I've just looked and Spark and 2Degrees support eSIM already. Not sure how to check if they work with just US carriers - are you talking about locking to a provider like locked phones of old where you couldn't use a Spark phone with a vodafone SIM?

cokemaster

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#2969348 16-Sep-2022 23:19

Does the US version support all our 5G bands?

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MaxineN

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#2969349 16-Sep-2022 23:49

cokemaster: Does the US version support all our 5G bands?

Yes it does. It also does band 28 which is a continued trend from the 12 on all models from the states(the 11 series from the US did NOT support B28)

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JY

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#2989630 30-Oct-2022 10:16

I traded up my US iPhone 13 mini to a US iPhone 14 Pro this month at an Apple store in the US on my last trip. Completely painless and Apple “transferred” over my T-Mobile physical SIM to the eSIM needed for the 14 Pro. I also received the full trade in credit from Apple which reduced wallet sting of the new model.

Unlike the NZ version of the 14, the US market ones do not have provision for a physical SIM.

Both US versions of the 13 mini and 14 Pro have the additional mmWave antenna port on the side below the power switch that is not present on the NZ versions. Looks like Apple is not supporting mmWave here in NZ yet.

At the IWCE show in Vegas earlier this year I personally witnessed one of my US colleagues getting 1.5 Gbps on his iPhone 13 on Verizon from in in building mmWave microcell.

When I got home I had Spark transfer my NZ mobile over to eSIM slot in the new phone and it works well on 5G with T-Mobile roaming on the second line.

Eight eSIM slots are available in the 14 Pro vs 6 on the regular 14. Only two can be active at one time.