The parent is pointing out one possible motive for a large carrier, who has to deal with what I call the "general public".

> Which is why I prefer to buy my phone independently from the carrier service.

You're clearly a tech literate person, which is great! But I've worked at a phone/computer repair/resell store for 2 years, and let me tell you, the "general public" can be very interesting.

It's common for many people to not know that their "phone runs android". Let alone the which version LOL!

What I'm trying to say is, it's great that you buy your phone that way, and that's the smart way to do it. We've had plenty of customers looking for unlocked phones too, but even then many don't understand how there's different radios in the phones that work with different carriers, some didn't actually know what being "unlocked" means, etc.

I’m able to buy a Windows computer from third parties and still get an update from Microsoft....