AT&T Galaxy S8 Any issues buying Galaxy S8 Unlocked International SM-G950F ?

[BenH4]

I'll likely use this phone on AT&T or StraightTalk but I'm considering the International Unlocked version. It appears the 950F version supports all the AT&T bandwidths except Band 17 so I should be able to use it on any of the US GSM Carriers. It also comes with TD-LTE but perhaps that won't help much in the US.

I've seen one long forum thread stating Samsung withheld Nougat to unlocked device owners which would be reason enough to avoid it if they'd continue that practice. Other claims are that Samsung won't warranty it which would really suck.

Costco has a cash rebate on the AT&T version which is enticing ($200 cash card) so maybe that's enough motivation to ignore the bloatware.

Any thoughts on advantages/disadvantages ?

 

[Tim1954]

I have that model with Nougat and warranty intact, got it from Samsung Australia... No issues here....

 

[G4aol]

Think hard about it. I have the unlocked edition. Still waiting for update to fix colour imbalance. (uk)
Last time I buy sim free.
You will be better off with carrier support.

 

[john_ath]

The international version g950F is way much better than carriers versions.
It sports the Samsung's Exynos soc which is better than the sd835 with better battery results, snappier and with better multitasking.
In a speedtest exynos vs.sd,exynos finishes first.

 

[bandofbrothers2112]

I'm in the UK.

The issue I had when I bought my s7 edge is that I bought the unlocked version from a highstreet chain called Car phone warehouse. They sell unlocked variants but the CsC Code was xeu which from my own experience and reports started receiving nougat and other updates later than network locked phones.

This time I've bought from the Samsung Experience Store which means my CsC Code is Btu which is supposed to receive updates faster. Time will tell.