Samsung Galaxy S7 keeps region lock, but that shouldn't concern you

Victor, 12 March, 2016

Its officially happening, the first wave of Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge units have reached eager customers across Europe and a small storm seems to be brewing online. It concerns a rather inconspicuous black sticker, found on the box of unlocked units, reading - "EUROPEAN SIM CARD ONLY".

Why would the Unlocked phone, you payed top dollar for be locked after all? Is it a mistake? It must be serious since it is all caps. Well, it is all natural and nothing to get alarmed over. Your phone has a regional lock in place, bounding it to only European SIM cards, but it is very temporary. To be exact, it only takes five minutes worth of call time on a compatible network and then all restrictions are off.

This is actually something Samsung has been doing for a few years now and it was only natural that the SM-G930F and SM-G935F would have the protection in place as well. It is a protection mechanism aimed at gray market re-sellers, who might try to offer Unlocked EU units in places they weren't meant to go.

The bottom line is, if you are from Europe and currently have a Samsung Galaxy S7 box in front of you with the infamous sticker, you should simply relax and enjoy your shiny new phone. You've probably removed the lock by the time you finished bragging to all your friends about it.

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Reader comments

  • Hina
  • 06 Feb 2020
  • pw6

You have to call the country you wish to unlock it for, for a cumulative of 5 minutes to unlock the region. (according to the manual included with my middle east phone) To be safe I'd make one five minute or longer international call to the country y...

  • Fel
  • 09 Apr 2018
  • CGH

I received a galaxy j7 which was bought in Italy, unfortunately it wasn't activated before it was sent to me. I live in Ghana, Africa. please how do i unlock the sim because it is blocked and i do not have an Italian sim card.

  • Anonymous
  • 08 Jan 2018
  • 7yq

If you're on a UK carrier, I bet you've used the phone in Europe, in which case you're fine in that regard, as the article clearly states. But if you're on a UK carrier, it doesn't matter if the phone is unlocked--does that carrier have towers in Ho...

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