Android Q will give carriers more ways to SIM lock phones – Could be anti-competitive in many countries
9to5Google noticed four commits on the Android Open Source Project Gerrit about the changes. All of the commits are called “Carrier restriction enhancements for Android Q”. 9to5Google reports that after looking at the sources, they could verify that Android Q will let carriers include a blacklist and whitelist of carriers. Starting from the soon-to-be-released version of Android, carriers will also be able to restrict the dual-SIM functionality of the device. They will be able to completely lock out the second SIM slot unless there is a verified (added in the whitelist by the carrier) SIM card in the first one.
In South Africa I think all phones are now unlocked and you can freely port your number between carriers. Most carriers (where they provide at "free" phone with the contract, have an option to claw back the pro-rata value of the phone through an early contract cancellation cost. But when I've paid for that phone I should be able to use it anywhere. Personally, I will not take any phone that is carrier locked. If I ever get another phone from a carrier I'll test it in the shop with a different SIM before signing the contract.
See https://www.xda-developers.com/android-q-carriers-sim-lock-phones/
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Android Q will give carriers more ways to SIM lock phones According to some recent commits, Google is going to give carriers easier methods to SIM lock devices with the release of Android Q. |