Apple now sells unlocked iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in US

Nearly a month after releasing the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, Apple is giving consumers the option of purchasing the unlocked versions of its latest flagships in US. The "SIM-free" models are available in all the color and storage configurations as their carrier counterparts, with prices starting at the same $649 for the iPhone 7 and $769 for the iPhone 7 Plus.

The unlocked iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models carry the designation A1778 and A1784, and support the same LTE bands as the AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon versions. But what are the differences?

The main difference between the unlocked and carrier versions of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, as Apple explains on its website, is that the SIM-free versions do not ship with a carrier SIM card and "work with any carrier".

Meanwhile, Apple notes, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models designed for AT&T and T-Mobile will be limited to 3G for voice services while data can be "either 3G or 4G LTE", when connected to a CDMA network. However, the Sprint and Verizon versions can work on AT&T and T-Mobile as well.

If you are thinking of buying the unlocked version to get an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus faster you should know that shipping times range between a couple of days to a whole month, depending on the configuration that you want.