This time, the iPhone 14 series in the United States is very different from the past. Only the version without physical SIM card is sold, that is, eSIM must be used. This also means that even if the iPhone 14 series in the United States is very cheap, it is still not suitable for foreign consumers. To start, it can basically be said that parallel imports are dead. This problem is not a problem for Huaqiangbei, China. Recently, they have found a solution. Since there is no physical SIM card slot, they can plug one by themselves, and it is really successful.
China’s Huaqiangbei has successfully cracked the US version of the iPhone 14 Pro, plugged it into the physical SIM card slot
The American version of the iPhone has always been very popular in China. Not only is it the same as the Chinese version, but the price may be thousands of yuan cheaper. However, after the iPhone 14 series was completely changed to eSIM, the parallel import market in China suffered a huge blow.
To this end, recently in the Chinese card sticker bar, someone shared that Huaqiangbei has successfully cracked the US version of the iPhone 14 Pro, installed a new physical SIM card slot directly on the fuselage, and it can work normally:
According to the introduction, although the US version of the iPhone 14 cancels the physical SIM card slot, the use of the motherboard is not a special specification like other countries, which means that it can be cracked by manual welding, which is not very difficult:
However, it should be noted that since it is to be inserted into the physical SIM card slot, of course, the outer frame of the iPhone 14 also has to have a hole, so there will be some scratches and traces of modification, as you can see from the first picture above. Actually not small. More importantly, this processing process is also cumbersome. It requires disassembling the iPhone 14, removing the motherboard, soldering the SIM card slot, opening the outer frame, testing, and finally assembling. The price must not be cheap.
The Chinese Boss Network mentioned that no one has bought the US version of the iPhone 14 cracked by Huaqiangbei, and it is still not perfect (referring to the processing cost). Compared with the Chinese version, there is no price advantage, and almost no one has booked:
according toNetEase reportthe 128GB US version of the iPhone sold by Huaqiangbei, plus the cost of modification, came to about 6,000 yuan, while the Chinese version of the same model was only 5,999 yuan.
Some people think that Huaqiangbei’s cracking of the iPhone 14 is just a gimmick, because the current method is only in the experimental stage, and it is uncertain whether it will be fine for a long time. Moreover, the modified iPhone 14 cannot obtain the original factory warranty. At the same time, after the body is damaged, its The quality will definitely be reduced, especially the waterproof and dustproof ability. If there is a problem in the later stage, consumers may need to pay a higher maintenance fee, which is not worth it on the whole.
Having said that, I really didn’t know that the American version of the iPhone was so popular in China. The unlocked version of the iPhone should be available in many countries. It may be because the US dollar was cheap before, and the price of the Chinese version is very different after conversion. And with the U.S. dollar skyrocketing this year, the spread should not be that big.
But no matter what, it really doesn’t make sense to buy this kind of overhauled iPhone, not only do you not know if there will be other problems in the future, but if it is secretly manipulated, there is no way to know, and there is no guarantee at all.