iPhone 5S from Apple US, Warranty and living overseas

[M.Rizk]

After calculating all the fees for ordering an iPhone 5S from Apple website, and shipping it to where I live in Qatar I found out it would be much cheaper than the local prices, and will reach within a week compared to 2 months for the local version. However, something which I really care about is the warranty. As I heard that the US iPhone versions do not have international warranties, or lets say it only works in the US, and sometimes Canada as only Apple stores in this region got this model, while those in Europe and Middle East got the European model.

In case anything wrong goes with my iPhone, I know for those in the US they can mail their device to Apple for a fix/replacement and Apple mails it back to them. I also know that Apple doesn't accept international repairs by mailing the device to them, but I assume that's because they do not want to ship abroad. But In my case what if I sent the device from abroad via mail and asked them to send it to someone I know in the US, or my US mailing address. Would they still refuse?

The reason I want to get the US version, not only it's cheaper but it already supports LTE in the country where I live, and my home country (Egypt). Also the major US carriers as AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. I come yearly to the US for a short holiday, that's why I would love to have 4G LTE there too.

Btw, the T-Mobile version is the unlocked version and I should not be worried about getting it right? In other words, it doesn't need me visiting a T-Mobile store to activate and unlock it. All I need is to toss away T-Mobile SIM(or keep it for later use) and place in my local SIM card.

Thanks in advance.

 

[M.Rizk]

Bump.. Anyone can help me please :/

 

[Headgame]

Bump.. Anyone can help me please :/

I believe the Apple iPhone warranty is world wide. I had my iphone 4 purchased in the US warranty serviced in Thailand. No questions. No issues. Make sure you keep your purchase receipt. I keep my copy in Dropbox on my iphone.

 

[M.Rizk]

I believe the Apple iPhone warranty is world wide. I had my iphone 4 purchased in the US warranty serviced in Thailand. No questions. No issues. Make sure you keep your purchase receipt. I keep my copy in Dropbox on my iphone.

No, it is not international. The warranty TOS says that Apple may limit the warranty to the country of purchase. This has always been the case but since iPhone 4 and 4S didn't have much different models Apple didn't really care and serviced it anywhere in the world. But as iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S, also 5C come with many different models Apple stores worldwide started refusing to do a replacement and in most cases repairs too because the device model is different and they usually don't have the same model in stock.

Even if the warranty was international we don't have an Apple Store here, we do have authorized centers like Vodafone Service Center but they told me already that they will not accept any warranty but Vodafone Qatar warranty, so they won't even repair an iPhone bought from a local shop here in Qatar. I still didn't call the other service center which is owned by the competitor carrier (ooredoo). But I am sure they will just tell the same.