Here’s something Samsung probably won’t be sending a press release out on – reports are coming in from Phone Arena that the company has started region locking all of its devices, restricting worldwide use. In fact, it start doing so about two months ago.
A number of new Samsung phone owners from across the web (including early birds that have nabbed a Galaxy Note 3) have noticed a sticker (below) on the product’s packaging that informs you of region locking. European models, for example, come with an explanation that the device in question will only work with a SIM-card that’s been issued from an operator within the region. This new policy has apparently been in effect since the end of July 2013, though we’re just starting to see it come to fruition now. This covers all new Galaxy S2, Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S4 Mini and Note 3 devices that have been produced since that time.
Although this likely won’t strike up much of an issue in terms of things like importing devices (it’s 2013, no one needs to do that anymore), its a puzzling move for devices like the Note 3, which are aimed at businesspeople and thus surely universal in their nature. There’s no way around the restriction that we know of yet, though apparently it will be possible to visit an official outlet to change the specific region the device is locked to if you’re yet to activate a SIM. Of course, the regions they are locked to are fairly substantial (Europe is a big place, y’know), but it’ll be a hinderance to anyone who does a lot of travelling.
Source: Phone Arena
