However there are a few advantages as well as few caveats that should be kept in mind hence we have decided to inform our readers and help them make a smart choice! There are 5 different carriers in the country and all 5 of them are offering the phone. Let’s talk about the advantages first and then the caveats.

The advantages are that the phones are officially imported through proper channels hence the devices are actually brand new and not pre-activated, also the accessories will be genuine and it wont be repacked as those are mostly sold in the local as gray market imports. Speaking of which you also get 1 year warranty on the device which is something you don’t get in the local market. These phones are also PTA approved but that also means that FaceTime is unavailable as PTA has a restriction on FaceTime. The prices are also higher(which we will discuss more about later in the article.)

The benefits of buying from the local market are that the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are already available in the local market, at a cheaper price and have FaceTime enabled as well. However as we mentioned earlier that they lack any warranty or after-sales support and might not have original accessories and might be repacked as well. Hence it’s mostly upto the customer to choose where to buy from as the price difference is quite marginal.

However coming to price is where the real drawbacks come to play. The local carriers are all offering the iPhones but the terms and conditions are quite vague.  Here’s a rundown of how various carriers are offering the new iPhone duo.

Warid: We spoke to their customer representative who stated that the launch is scheduled for tomorrow i.e 13th November 2015, however they said that there is no confirmed pricing at the moment and pricing could fluctuate and it’s best to visit your nearest service center tomorrow to get exact price and availability information.

Telenor: The customer rep has stated that they have no availability information at the moment however we have recieved a SMS from Telenor that states the price to start from PKR 80000 onwards.

Ufone: The launch date is stated for 13th November 2015 i.e tomorrow however pricing is yet to be confirmed.

Mobilink: Their staff states that they have no pricing or availability information at the moment.

Zong: They were the only carrier that gave us concrete pricing, however availability date is yet to be announced and you have to submit a PKR 1000 deposit to reserve your device. Pricing is as follows and all units are factory unlocked however without FaceTime:

iPhone 6s
16GB: PKR 85000
64GB: PKR 99000
128GB: PKR 111000

iPhone 6s Plus
16GB: PKR 98500
64GB: PKR 111500
128GB: PKR 124000

We honestly think that these prices are a bit on the high side however if you want total peace of mind with 1 year AppleCare warranty plan then we would ask you to go for it. Though prices in the open market have gotten lower and are now stable and even slightly used units are available as well for those with a lower budget. In the end it’s upto the consumer to make the choice and it’s good to see carriers finally bringing in the iPhone with warranty for those who prefer it this way.

Khurram Zahid

The post Telcos Late to the Apple iPhone 6s Launch Party(as usual) appeared first on Smartchoice.pk.

Everyone knows the iPhone. It’s the phone everyone wants but not everyone can afford. People have been selling kidneys to buy iPhones as the craze and hype behind Apple products is massively insane!

Now word on the street is that market retailers in China are offering 16GB to 128GB upgrades on iPhone 6/6 Plus for as low as $90. Officially Apple has a price difference of $100 between storage upgrade which means $200 price difference between 16GB and 128GB variants.

Now comes the question if it’s actually possible or not and how it’s done. Actually, the whole upgrading process is not complicated. The mobile store technician first cracks open the phone and takes out the circuit board. The materials stored in the current memory chip is moved to a 128GB one using a hard drive serial number reader. The technician subsequently heats the board, takes out the old memory chip, and replaces it with a new one. Updating it on a computer is the last step.

Chinese mobile stores claim that there are no negative effect of this upgrading process. Serial number, type number, phone color, Wi-Fi address, and Bluetooth address can reportedly all be copied to the new memory chip through a hard drive serial number reader.

The response to this has been mixed by the general public, some people are skeptical if this process will really work apart from the fact that it voids any warranty and the iPhone could probably be detected as tampered and blocked by Apple remotely. On the other hand some people say that this is the level of Chinese wisdom that they can bypass American technology and modify it the way they want to. There has been no statement from Apple on this particular case.

What do you say? We know that this might not be the best practice to upgrade but if this really works then it’s only because Apple has kept steep pricing for storage upgrades. With storage needs growing as people move into the 4K video recording and playback era along with high quality apps that consume gigabytes of precious storage we think that more people will go for this workaround as it’s a much cheaper alternative to Apple’s upgrade pricing. However if you are one of those people who don’t like tinkering with their devices and care about their warranty then it’s best that you stay away and purchase products through official channels. If successful like the Jailbreak, it might force Apple to reduce its prices in the future.

Khurram Zahid

The post Apple iPhone Storage Upgrade Hack Found! appeared first on Smartchoice.pk.