Recently, reports of Samsung region locking the Note 3 came out via Clove UK, which posted on its blog that the Note 3 would be completely unable to use a SIM card from a carrier outside of the region, and would not ship any Note 3 devices with a region lock outside of Europe.

Of course, while unprecedented in the smartphone industry, this sort of business has been happening for a very long time in the automobile industry, which has effectively banned grey importing to the US. While that isn't common knowledge, some may know that the Skyline GT-R is effectively banned from the US, which is a direct result of a ban on grey imports. The reason for all of this was a push by Mercedes-Benz USA to protect its dealer network and its own margins. In short, the story behind all of this is that grey imports were cutting into profit margins, as importers could easily take advantage of fluctuating exchange rates, and when all was said and done, going through an importer could net thousands of dollars in savings, all of which was effectively taken from the OEM. As a result, MBUSA and a coalition of other OEMs successful lobbied Congress to pass laws that made grey importing effectively impossible, which completely killed that industry.

While there are other possible justifications for region locking devices, looking to the past, it is evident that this move is done for similar reasons, albeit implemented at the software levels rather than enforced by law. While at first such a move threatened to have severe blowback due to the lockout of foreign SIMs for those traveling outside of the region intended for use, Samsung moved quickly to quell such fears, stating that the lock would only be for initial activation and that any region locked device would be able to be unlocked by a regional service center, however it seems that based upon multiple user reports, unlocked devices in certain regions have been completely locked out from using foreign SIMs. Recent information suggests that this lock is also shipping on many other unlocked devices that we're manufactured after July 2013, and such locks may arrive via OTA update for some devices. Due to their enormous marketshare and mindshare, Samsung is best placed to execute such a strategy, and stands to greatly increase margins from this move.

Even though Samsung is the first to do this in the smartphone industry, it is hard to say that such a move would not be pushed by other OEMs, as all would stand to profit from such region locking. While the automotive industry achieved this through legislation, it seems that smartphone OEMs are well-positioned to implement such features in software. While initial SIM locks would be easily bypassed by resellers, forcing the need to acquire an unlock code from a service center in the correct region would be extremely effective at killing grey market imports in the smartphone market, especially if the lock flag were in a partition with signature checks enforced like many carrier locks. It remains to be seen, however, whether the smartphone OEM would move in such a direction. While the automobile industry is nothing to be emulated, it is possible that the smartphone industry will follow in its footsteps.

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  • just2btecky - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link

    " If enough people don't by "x" product". LOL, drive by buying...:)
  • bormasina - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link

    I'll vote with my wallet too. I do not buy this analogy with car industry. Very poor comparison, indeed.

    Importing a car from gray market is putting in danger lives of many drivers, because it compromises the safety (not many countries practice the same laws in the name of safety) ... On the other side, importing a phone from the gray market is only putting your wallet into grave danger, the rest of the phone users will remain safe ...

    I would never import a Mercedes from gray market, even if saves me a ton of coin ...
  • larkhon - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link

    that may be true with chinese, but I wouldn't have any concerns about european cars. It's exactly the same thing in european countries, you can import american cars but paperwork and customs make it very difficult to do so.

    this has little to do with safety, they're just protecting their market.
  • lecaf - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link

    euh.. I dont think a Ford Pinto would ever be allowed to roll in Europe...
    But it is true the import regulations are just to protect local dealer. Even in EU the Rome's treaty encourages grey imports, but they are always bureaucratic papers to fill in to discourage you.
  • speculatrix - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link

    here in the UK you can import cars or build them from kits, but either way they have to become certified.
    for importing: https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk/...

    for kit cars: https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-registration/kit-cars-a...

    this seems perfectly reasonable. I think that there would be an outcry if the manufacturers formed a cartel to control imports.

    Do people say "USA, land of the free" still?
  • Notmyusualid - Wednesday, October 9, 2013 - link

    Because Japanese safety standards are not good enough?

    You know they privately put the GTR through testing in the USA, a first in the industry...and it passed.
  • vnangia - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link

    Agreed.

    I have never been so disappointed in an Anandtech story as this; it's even worse than Anand's "well of course everyone cheats at benchmarks". Both this and the cheating is complete bullshit, and you seem to be saying "oh well, such is life". Take Samsung to task on this, take everyone to task on the cheating. We rely on you, the tech media, to stand up and represent the users and you're failing us.
  • WilcoR - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link

    I so agree, ill vote with my wallet, will not buy Samsung again, and advice all and everyone to do the same!
  • pookguy88 - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link

    this is such bullshit
  • fic2 - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link

    Samsung is the new Sony.

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