I bought the Galaxy S24 Ultra from Dubai, which is the TRA version (UAE version). I plan to gift it to someone in India without opening the device. I've heard about Samsung's region locks, where you supposedly need to make a 5-minute call using a UAE SIM card to unlock it. Is this still necessary? The device itself doesn't mention needing a UAE SIM card specifically. Additionally, Samsung's customer service claims that any service center worldwide can remove the lock. Can this be confirmed?
Brother who told you that. That's not true. If you bought from operating like Etisalat or Du and you have an agreement sometime, you can't work on other operating until unlock But from Samsung, it works. I remember I bought 10 plus Samsung from kerala Samsung, and I used in UAE without any problem
You need to put your UAE sim for 5 mins to place the call so that your device can be used in any region, if you put the sim card of other region your device might get locked and then you need to take your device to samsung service center to Unlock it
If you originally received your device from one network provider and your new SIM card is from a different network, the original network provider may have locked the device to their network. Samsung does not lock any of its devices to any particular network. You will need to contact the original service provider or retailer to request an unlock code.
Some service providers may allow you to unlock the device for a small charge or for free, whereas others may not allow the device to be unlocked at all.
Samsung devices are locked to country where they are sold officially. As stated above by others, you should use phone with local country SIM for some time (I recommend at least 1-2 hours), do calls, sms.
My friend had issue when he took new phone from india and tried to use in Hongkong.
Also better to carry unboxed phone to avoid issues with customs.
