The model regions on Apple wikis are missing some entries- and the entries are lacking some information that I would be critical for international buyers: there are some extreme differences between features in some regions: FaceTime support, Dual SIM support, etc.
What's worse is some regions have multiple codes, and sometimes even imported devices from other regions.
Unfortunately, Apple does not seem to acknowledge these region numbers exist at all and resort to nebulous claims about the feature differences, and it doesn't help that there are some conflicting reports on the internet.
So I'm going to try my best to maintain an up-to-date list. Any and all confirmations, additions and denials here would be extremely helpful. Please just leave a comment.
The model number (format: AXXXX) is typically identical for many countries (they're even identical across some generations of devices in the Mac world.) These typically only affect things like LTE/5G bands, and in the case of Hong Kong and Macau, Dual SIM support. You can check them out on this page: (https://www.apple.com/us/iphone/cellular/).
The part number (Apple documentation refers to them as such) varies wildly across regions and devices. It's typically structured as:
SXXXXRR/U
You could find a good dissection of how these product codes work over at the Apple Wiki: it's up to date as of the time of writing (2023-08-04). But that's not the concern of this gist.
We are specifically concerned with the RR part: the region code.
| Code | Region |
|---|---|
| AA | Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab EmiratesUnconfirmed 1 |
| AB | Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates1 |
| AE | United Arab Emirates1 |
| AH | Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Greece? (some reports) |
| B | Ireland, UK, also used for some replacement units |
| BR | Brazil (Assembled in Brazil) |
| BZ | Brazil (Assembled in China) |
| C | Canada |
| CL | Canada |
| CH | China2 |
| CZ | Czech Republic |
| D | Germany |
| DN | Austria, Germany, Netherlands |
| E | Mexico |
| EE | Estonia |
| FB | France, Luxembourg |
| FD | Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland |
| GR | Greece |
| HN | India |
| IP | Italy |
| IR | Iran1 |
| HB | Israel |
| J | Japan |
| KH | Korea |
| KN | Norway |
| KS | Finland, Sweden |
| LA | Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru |
| LE | Argentina |
| LL | USA3, Canada, also used for some replacement units |
| LW | USA4 |
| LZ | Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay |
| MG | Hungary |
| MO | Macau, Hong Kong?2 |
| MY | Malaysia |
| NF | Belgium, France, Luxembourg |
| PL | Poland |
| PO | Portugal |
| PP | Philippines |
| RO | Romania |
| RS | Russia |
| RU | Russia |
| SL | Slovakia |
| SO | South Africa |
| T | Italy |
| TA | Taiwan |
| TU | Turkey |
| TY | Italy |
| VC | Canada |
| VN | Vietnam |
| X | Australia, New Zealand |
| Y | Spain |
| ZA | Singapore, Hong Kong2 |
| ZP | Hong Kong, Macau2 |
1 FaceTime support for phones of this region code may need to be explicitly whitelisted by the carrier, which can be determined from this page (Middle East) and this page (Egypt). FaceTime will not work at all with a foreign SIM card; a problem for frequent travelers.
- iPhones sold in those regions without this weird FaceTime quirk are typically sold as "with FaceTime" on online storefronts, but as a result of being enabled by some carriers traditionally disabling FaceTime the distinction is no longer reliable.
2 Mainland Chinese models of the iPhone XS Max and above support dual physical SIM cards.
3 Mainland US (not PR/VI) models of the iPhone 12 series have antennae for a special 5G band, mmwave, not available anywhere else. See this page for more info.
4 Apple Watches sold in the US under this region code have their Blood Oxygen sensors disabled in software due to a patent dispute. See this page for more info.
Content adapted from the Apple Wiki under CC-BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/, with additions by me. I cross referenced internet listings, forum threads and devices I have on hand to add the extra information.
Does anyone happen to know what the regions BE and CI refer to? Two different apple devices bought in Chile, one directly from Apple, two different region codes not listed anywhere lol