So my info comes directly from R-I-C-K-Y The Youtube Tech Guy. The link to the video is down below. Skip to about 53-54 seconds in to get to the part in reference to.
So Im going to quickly explain what he is talking about. Basically each phone from T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, and I think Sprint each are getting the exact same phones. The SM-G950U and the SM-G955U, or the models of the S8. Basing the letter coding on the end to the S7 and S7 edge we can see that T-Mobile should have a T, Verizon a V, AT&T an A and so on for each carrier in the world. But Samsung has provided the big 4 US carriers with U variants which isnt a carrier, but instead a type, specifically the Unlocked version. and also in Linus review of the S8 talking about carrier locking when you insert the sim, according to R-I-C-K-Y The Youtube Tech Guy, there will be an update of sorts, he says scanning first then an update, that will allow you to say switch from Verizon to a better more cost efficient carrier like T-Mobile. P.S if you havent noticed I have T-Mobile and have been on Verizon in the past. Now I have checked with all my friends who have gotten the S8 in the US from T-Mobile to Sprint, and every single one of them have the U variant. Now I first thought that this would mean we would get updates from Samsung faster instead of waiting for carriers to review, add bloatware, and release, but that wouldnt make sense for Samsung to do that. So my new thought is that Samsung ships the phone unlocked and then once you insert a sim card it instantly locks to that carrier and the only way to remove the carrier lock is to do the scan/update process.
Thanks for reading, this was my first post on LTT.