# Can I Buy an iPhone w/o Contract? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-an-iphone-w-o-contract/516913 "2009-11-09T16:55:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-an-iphone-w-o-contract/516913/1 "2009-11-09T16:55:44Z")
I will be flying back to Saudi Arabia in a week or so. A friend wants me to get him a fancy top-of-the-line iPhone for him. They are cheaper in the US. Can I buy one at the Apple store (or elsewhere) and leave without having to sign a contract for phone service? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-an-iphone-w-o-contract/516913/2 "2009-11-09T17:00:16Z")
I believe you can at Best Buy. They’re quite a bit more expensive that way, but they’re available. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-an-iphone-w-o-contract/516913/3 "2009-11-09T17:01:01Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I believe you can at Best Buy. They’re quite a bit more expensive that way, but they’re available. This is correct. It’ll cost you like $600 for the top of the line one w/o a contract. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-an-iphone-w-o-contract/516913/4 "2009-11-09T17:54:41Z")
thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-an-iphone-w-o-contract/516913/5 "2009-11-09T18:37:18Z")
Make sure that it’s unlocked as well. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-an-iphone-w-o-contract/516913/6 "2009-11-09T19:50:16Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Make sure that it’s unlocked as well. That’ll be the tricky part. I don’t think unlocked ones are publicly available in the USA. I considered getting one in Belgium, but got a US version and just unlocked it myself. That’s not without its quirks, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-an-iphone-w-o-contract/516913/7 "2009-11-09T22:47:05Z")
Unlocked ones are not available in the US. Don’t call AT&T about it, they’ll refer you to Apple, which will refer you right back to AT&T. NEITHER will unlock your phone for you. That’s your job, and you can find out how with just a coupe of minutes of poking around on Google. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-an-iphone-w-o-contract/516913/8 "2009-11-09T22:51:45Z")
And if you don’t want a phone plan at all (here or elsewhere), you can get an iPod Touch with basically the same functionality except for the phone part. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-an-iphone-w-o-contract/516913/9 "2009-11-09T22:59:01Z")
And, as far as I know, unlocking the phones is legal in the US, especially if you’re paying the full, unsubsidized price for one. Neither Apple nor AT&T are under any obligation to assist you in doing it though. Probably easier to stop off in Europe or wherever and get an officially-unlocked one. Are the full-price iPhones that much more expensive in Europe? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-an-iphone-w-o-contract/516913/10 "2009-11-10T15:11:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And if you don’t want a phone plan at all (here or elsewhere), you can get an iPod Touch with basically the same functionality except for the phone part. Ha! I got an iPod Touch in July as a replacement for my Palm OS Sony Clié. It wasn’t long before I started longing for the iPhone. So at the end of October, I decommissioned the iPod Touch and got my iPhone. I don’t use it as a phone, though. It offers the following above the iPod Touch: camera w/ video, GPS, cell tower trianulation, compass, and of course 3G data when WIFI isn’t available. What irks me is that the (subsidized) price is the same as I paid for the iPod Touch originally. > [@Sunspace](#): > > And, as far as I know, unlocking the phones is legal in the US, especially if you’re paying the full, unsubsidized price for one. Neither Apple nor AT&T are under any obligation to assist you in doing it though. Completely legal and exempt from DMCA should that enter into it. You’re looking for blackra1n. Google it. > [@](#): > > Probably easier to stop off in Europe or wherever and get an officially-unlocked one. Are the full-price iPhones that much more expensive in Europe? Yeah, I’m going to Belgium in a couple of weeks, where _all_ the iPhones are unlocked. They’re about a thousand bucks last time I looked up exchange rates. So I went with the US version.