OEM unlocking

eusr

I want to buy a pixel 8a but im worried about oem unlocking being blocked, does it only happen with carrier specyfic devices or is it possible that some retaillers do that too?

de0u

eusr I think it might be productive to scope the question a little. Perhaps list some retailers? Which country?

Buying an "unlocked" Pixel from Google's store seems to be a very reliable way to get an OEM-unlockable Pixel.

PrivateDoe

eusr My friend from Poland bought a Pixel 7 in Media Expert and installed Graphene OS on it without any issue. What I understand is that purchasing from a store like that didn't cause any problems if nothing strange is written in a description of the current device, like “Locked.”

eusr

de0u

de0u Poland, buying from google directly would cost me around 30% more than from local retailers. All i want to know is when generally the bootloader is not unlockable.

de0u

eusr All i want to know is when generally the bootloader is not unlockable.

I think that is most common in the United States. But from time to time somebody in another country gets a deal on a device that turns out to have been originally sold by a U.S. carrier and is not OEM-unlockable.

If your local retailer has a reasonable return policy, maybe try OEM-unlocking the device while you are still in the store?

eusr

PrivateDoe i was in a local store and when i asked them they told me that they dont have any info about the bootloader and it may or may not be locked, but i think im gonna risk it

DeletedUser38

You need to verify that the device is not SIM unlocked or attempted IEMI blacklisting by the carrier.
This depends on how much information the retailer has provided about the device. It's probably more efficient to talk to your retailer than to ask here.

In my case, I bought used Pixel 7, and the seller confirmed that it was legitimately purchased from the Google Store. (Note that P2P sales can be unreliable.)

eusr

DeletedUser38 i will buy from them online and return it if the bootloader is locked

PrivateDoe

eusr There is no risk, simply buy this phone and if something went wrong just return it. I believe you can return electronics after two weeks of using without any questions from the shop side.