Original topic:

S10 - IMEI changed after October security patch

(Topic created on: 11-01-2019 03:45 PM)
1400 Views
Aaron1
Active Level 3
Options
Galaxy S
After the update, I got promoted to login my Samsung account again. Once I logged in, I received an email from Samsung, saying thanks for purchasing and registering a new Samsung Galaxy s10. Then I found out my phone now has a new IMEI. For years I thought it's tied to the physical device just like Mac addresses on NICs. Is anyone experiencing this?
0 Likes
10 Comments
CHMultimedia
Expert Level 5
Galaxy S
First, check in your device's Settings if your IMEI has changed or not.

IMEIs and MAC addresses are allocated to individual devices indeed, but they aren't tied per say. It is illegal but one can actually generate a new IMEI and allocate it to a device to circumvent, say, a blacklisting. Of course I'm not going to tell you how because it is illegal.

MAC addresses can be regenerated at will and this isn't illegal. It's in fact a great privacy measure.
0 Likes
Aaron1
Active Level 3
Galaxy S
my IMEI has indeed changed. if what you say is true then I am now curious about why a refresh of imei is necessary in this software update
0 Likes
blitzteh
Active Level 6
Galaxy S
hmm wierd i wonder how that would affect warranty
0 Likes
Galaxy S
Almost certainly a changed IMEI would affect the warranty - I've never ever heard of any OTA spontaneously change the IMEI... ever - IMEI is the digital serial number of the device & it appears to be every bit of illegal. 🐧
Zaptor
Active Level 6
Galaxy S
Better chat with Samsung online and see what happened to avoid warranty issues in the future.
0 Likes
Holloway
Active Level 5
Galaxy S
imei never change lol 😂
baseband changes ;

0 Likes
Holloway
Active Level 5
Galaxy S
only way to change the IMEI is having a rooted device an then using an xposed installer an using the Imei changer
0 Likes
Galaxy S
That's the weirdest thing I heard
0 Likes
vape
Active Level 10
Galaxy S
Yeah I have to agree with Holloway. You must be reading something else.
0 Likes