Will the SG6 be cross carrier compatible like the Nexus 6?

[diesteldorf]

One of the reasons I like the Nexus 6 is because there is only one North American model. It was very nice to know that I could buy the phone with TMO upon release and use it easily with any of the other 3 major US Carriers.

Does anyone know how many North American models Samsung is releasing? I would guess that the Verizon version may be compatible with AT&T and Tmobile, but don't know if it will have all the radios for full HSPA and LTE. Likewise, will the TMO variant come unlocked and be compatible with Verizon and/or Sprint.

From a manufacturing standpoint, I would think Samsung would be happy to do what Google has done and only have to manufacture 2 models for the entire world.

 

[Rukbat]

Does anyone know how many North American models Samsung is releasing?

From what it looks like, one for each carrier, the same as always.

From a manufacturing standpoint, I would think Samsung would be happy to do what Google has done and only have to manufacture 2 models for the entire world.

I think they'd be happier if they could sell just one world phone for each model. Just add a few bands, and make sure it's both GSM and CDMA, and a phone is usable all over. One phone. Cheaper than two models. ("Oops, we made too many NA phones and we're out of stock on the Euro-Asian-African ones." Not with a single model.)

Of course, even though they're not subsidizing phones in the US any more (so they say, they really are - you can get a rate reduction if you have your own phone), they're still going to be carrier-locked. At least they have to unlock them when they're paid for now. (How many people remember the "Dark Ages" before universal number portability? Some day we'll try hard to remember the days of carrier locked phones.)

 

[diesteldorf]

Of course, even though they're not subsidizing phones in the US any more (so they say, they really are - you can get a rate reduction if you have your own phone), they're still going to be carrier-locked. At least they have to unlock them when they're paid for now. (How many people remember the "Dark Ages" before universal number portability? Some day we'll try hard to remember the days of carrier locked phones.)

It just seems strange that Google could sell an unlocked device and Tmobile and Sprint would sell it and allow it to remain unlocked

Maybe the SG6 will be as well, though it probably doesn't matter, since the SG6 is mainstream enough that every carrier should get it around the same time to not be at a competitive disadvantage.