Samsung Galaxy S24 - will it work in Eastern Europe if bought in N.A ?

November 18, 2024 5:11 PM

If I buy an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S24 in Canada as a gift for someone in eastern Europe, will they have difficulty with SIM cards and/or carriers there? I have read that this is sometimes an issue with Samsung Galaxy, as there is some kind of regionality to them - though this may apply to older models only.

Bonus question - if a Samsung S24 is a risky choice, would a Google Pixel be a better bet?

posted by walkinginsunshine to Technology (4 answers total)

The North American S24 variants use a totally different (and generally considered to be superior) chipset to the ones intended for Europe. Connectivity shouldn’t be an issue - but *maybe* the NA firmware is not fully set up for languages other than English/French/Spanish.
posted by kickingtheground at 6:24 PM on November 18

there are multiple variants of the s24 with support for different frequency bands. this is probably the regionality people were referring to. That website linked seems to let you look at a very specific phone model and see if it will work in other regions and on what carriers. I don't know how accurate it is.

(I guess I'd probably not go for it without at least 4G connectivity, 3G is pretty old and slow these days)
posted by BungaDunga at 6:45 PM on November 18

Best answer: You want to check which antennae protocols / bands the phone has in each country and compare.

So, for instance, if you go to the Samsung Canada page for the Galaxy S24 and scroll down to Network, you see numbers like these:

4G FDD LTE
B1(2100), B2(1900), B3(1800), B4(AWS), B5(850), B7(2600), B8(900), B12(700), B13(700), B18(800), B19(800), B20(800), B25(1900), B29(700), B30(2300), B66(AWS-3), B71(600)

4G TDD LTE
B38(2600), B39(1900), B40(2300), B41(2500)

Then, you go to Samsung website in the country of your destination. So, say you want to know if the phone will work in Belgium, you'd go here and scroll down to Network and you'll see:

4G FDD LTE
B1(2100), B2(1900), B3(1800), B4(AWS), B5(850), B7(2600), B8(900), B12(700), B13(700), B17(700), B18(800), B19(800), B20(800), B25(1900), B26(850), B28(700), B32 (1500), B66 (AWS-3)

4G TDD LTE
B38(2600), B39(1900), B40(2300), B41(2500)

The more numbers in common, the better the signal. No numbers in common, it won't work. Note that I've only pasted some of the numbers. Keep in mind there will be 3G, 4G, and 5G numbers. Make sure the bands match in the service your friend is looking to use. For instance, if they can only afford a 4G plan, you'll need some 4G bands to match.

It could also be helpful to search required bands on the website of the desired carrier.
posted by dobbs at 7:28 PM on November 18

Also, some carrier websites will allow you to enter a phone IMEI to check compatibility (search their help / faq for "compatibility" in the appropriate language). If the carrier your friend uses allows this, just get an IMEI of a S24 Canada box and punch it in. If it says yes than all with that same model number and part number will work.
posted by dobbs at 7:36 PM on November 18