Apple now selling SIM-free unlocked iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in the US, from $649
As we reported yesterday, Apple is now selling contract-free iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in retail stores and online. Following historic pattern, the 16 GB base model iPhone 6 costs $649 with higher tiers costing $100 extra.
Context & Ripple Effects
In early 2015, buying an iPhone in the US still mostly meant signing a two-year carrier contract with a subsidized sticker price. By putting the SIM-free, unlocked iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on its own shelves at full retail — $649 base, plus $100 per storage tier — Apple began selling directly to buyers rather than through carrier financing, following what 9to5Mac calls its historic pricing pattern.
That move turned out to be a template, not a one-off: Apple repeated it nearly three years later with the unlocked, SIM-free iPhone X, by which time unlocked sales had become standard practice. The same period saw Apple build out alternative channels around the device itself, including the refurbished-iPhone storefront that launched in late 2016.
First-order effects
- US customers can now buy an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus outright with no carrier commitment, paying Apple's full retail price of $649 and up instead of a subsidized contract price.
Second-order effects
- Carriers lose the lock-in their subsidies provided — an unlocked iPhone can move between networks freely, weakening the contract as the primary US distribution channel and shifting competition onto service plans themselves.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — and the later SIM-free iPhone X suggests it did — phone purchasing in the US structurally separates from carrier contracts, with Apple controlling the full-price relationship and carriers competing on plans rather than handset discounts.
The trend: US smartphone retail is decoupling from carrier contracts as manufacturers like Apple sell unlocked devices direct at full price.