Apple will now sell you an unlocked iPhone 6 or 6 Plus without a SIM

The latest iPhones are now available off-contract and without a SIM card in the United States. 9to5 Mac was the first to spot the new options, starting at $649 for the 6 and $749 for the 6 Plus, both in-store and online. It's the same price as buying the phone under a T-Mobile plan — effectively off-contract — but this is the first time the new batch of phones has been available without any connection to a carrier whatsoever. The unlocked phones can be activated under any carrier. There's still no sign of the Apple SIM — used in recent iPads to enable the same hardware to connect to multiple carriers — but many have speculated that Apple's longterm goal will involve doing away with the cards entirely, enabling fiercer competition between carriers and a more flexible hardware setup.