this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2025
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when people talk about unlocked phones, they mostly refer to the bootloader being unlocked. in that state the bootloader allows "flashing" (overwriting) the phone's partitions, and that's what you need for replacing its operating system.
as I know almost all phones usually come with locked bootloaders, which is not bad because it provides security at least while it is on the way. but normally they can be unlocked. some manufacturers require custom account login and a working sim card for that, samsung started taking that away recently even retroactively for older phones.
the carrier lock is a different thing, but if your phone is carrier locked, or it is a carrier variant, usually you won't be able to unlock it (by yourself)