Yesterday, we heard that Apple was planning to finally kick-off direct sales of unlocked, off-contract iPhone 5 handsets to interested customers in the US. At the time, that was little more than a rumor, but it looks like the sources behind it were right on the money, as Apple has gone ahead and started those unlocked iPhone 5 sales overnight.
Both the black and the white iPhone 5 are selling unlocked in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities for $649, $749, and $849, respectively. Apple has set a two-per-customer limit, so don’t plan on loading up on a bunch for a little resale venture.
One outstanding question is just what hardware Apple’s selling here. After all, it has a couple different GSM versions of the iPhone 5, with support for different LTE bands. Initial reports suggest that this is the dual-band LTE model, which operates on bands 4 and 17.
Before you snatch up one of these models and get ready for a little globetrotting adventure, your new unlocked iPhone in tow, don’t forget that the iPhone 5 requires nano SIMs, which carriers without an iPhone 5 of their own are unlikely to have readily available – might be time to invest in a SIM cutter.
