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I will be in Korea for 5 months, I'm about to buy an iPad 2 there and I'll be back in London or France in September. I would like to know if my warranty will be valid in England or in France in case something happens because there are no Apple Stores in Korea, but only retailers.

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Yes. But with a cost.

From Apple's iPad warranty docs:

If you seek service in a country that is not the country of original purchase, you will comply with all applicable import and export laws and regulations and be responsible for all custom duties, V.A.T. and other associated taxes and charges. Where international service is available, Apple may repair or exchange defective products and parts with comparable products and parts that comply with local standards. In accordance with applicable law, Apple may require that you furnish proof of purchase details and/or comply with registration requirements before receiving warranty service. Resources with more details on this and other matters on obtaining warranty service are described below.

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  • 2nd sentence, "Apple may" but won't honour warranty overseas. Even with furnished proof. I had the receipted emails apple sends on purchase. Please do not rely on this answer
    – Madivad
    Commented Dec 21, 2016 at 12:34
  • @Madivad we’ve hosted Koreans in the US and several needed iPhone / iPad service in the US and not one was not serviced in the US as if they purchased here. I don’t disagree you had issues with service in Thailand when you purchased from Australia so hopefully the Korean purchase here isn’t in a country where the “may” is exercised by local repair options. I don’t think Apple opened a store in a Thailand until 2018 so you might have had more trouble getting in country service before then.
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Oct 17, 2019 at 9:41
  • I tell you what, I’m going back to Thailand next year, I’ll give it another whirl then. Service doesn’t quite equal warranty. Did they get warranty, or service? I’ve got service in every country I’ve visited the apple store and it’s agents.
    – Madivad
    Commented Oct 18, 2019 at 11:54
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UPDATE: Even in 2017, the situation is still the same and has not changed. This screen capture is from the Apple website dated 2017-08-04:

A screengrab from Apple's own website dated 2017-08-04

After leaving a comment on @anthonyg's answer, I realised this question is 2 years old. Exactly two years ago, I was living in Thailand but before moving there I purchased two iphones (one each for my wife and me).

The long of it appears in anthonyg's question, the short of it was that both developed warranty issues and whilst my MacBook Pro was in getting something fixed under warranty, they (the authorised apple reseller/repairer) refused to take our phones because they were purchased in Australia. I called apple whilst I was standing in the store and they backed the repairer. They would not honour the warranty for the iPhones in Thailand even though the phones were well within the warranty period.

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    Did you contact Apple in Australia to request service? This doesn't match with any of my experience over the years. I have had to deal with reluctant local contacts from time to time, but contacting Apple directly to clarify my options has always yielded good results. (Especially when I have details of who and when my request for service wasn't logged properly).
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Mar 13, 2015 at 21:01
  • Yes I did call Apple directly. I spoke to someone in the USA and they confirmed what the repairer told me. He even stated he could not repair my phone EVEN IF I PAID FOR THE SERVICE because HE would be voiding an existing warranty! Even though he could (and did) repair my MBP (under warranty). He could repair Apple phones bought locally, but would only repair intl phones if the warranty was already expired. The Apple Rep CONFIRMED EVERYTHING the authorised repairer told me. Contacting Apple did clarify my option (singular): take it back to Australia, they would NOT repair it anywhere else
    – Madivad
    Commented Mar 22, 2016 at 15:06
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    I had the same problem with an iPhone bought in Australia which had problems in Brazil. They said it wasn't the same model number so they couldn't repair. Different countries have different model numbers, check support.apple.com/en-nz/HT201296 for available numbers.
    – Roberto
    Commented Dec 21, 2016 at 1:10
  • @Roberto it's a very sad situation indeed. Even last week as I got my wife's iPhone repaired under warranty (again) in Australia, I asked the geniuses and they stated,"Yeah, we would fix them if you had a problem overseas." I had her pull up the warranty info and it still says may. Which, as previously stated, means "no way". It's at their discretion, and their discretion means crap when you're overseas trying to get a phone fixed. I would love to hear positive results of someone getting an iphone/ipod repaired out of country, I note I have never seen someone post exactly that :/
    – Madivad
    Commented Dec 21, 2016 at 12:30
  • Maybe one reason is that Apple does not have an official store in Thailand, but only authorized repairers. One version I heard (not sure accurate or not) is that the official stores will still take up your repair requests while the authorized third-party service providers won't.
    – xji
    Commented Sep 15, 2021 at 20:41
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From my experience, this will be fine. Apple doesn't seem to be fussy about warranty cards and the like, they just take the device, look at the serial number, and that tells when it was bought. I've had no problems with getting devices bought in the US serviced in Thailand, as long as it's within the warranty period. This has never involved any extra cost.

Unlike some companies, Apple seems to accept the reality that these days, people are very mobile, moving from one country to another. This is different to, for example, cameras, where warranties can be quite restrictive.

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  • I understand, thank you very much for your answer Anthony Green. I was a little bit afraid but it seems like Apple understand better than every other companies that we'r living in a global world now. I'm going to buy it asap then, thanks again.
    – sowon kwon
    Commented May 3, 2011 at 5:38
  • Yes, that's one of the nice things about getting Apple stuff.
    – nthonygreen
    Commented May 3, 2011 at 13:19
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    @anthonyg, I am afraid you are wrong, and whilst I can't answer specifically for the ipad, I can for the iPhone and the MacBook Pro. iPhone's warranty DOES NOT extend beyond the country of purchase, and without having reviewed their warranty information on the iPad, I would presume as a mobile device, it would be similar. The MacBook Pro, on the other hand, IS covered. I discovered this first hand when I purchased two iPhone's in Aus before moving to Thailand. Both phones developed issues in the first year.
    – Madivad
    Commented Aug 25, 2013 at 11:29
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    I thought I would look it up... "IMPORTANT RESTRICTION FOR iPHONE AND iPAD SERVICE. Apple may restrict warranty service for iPhone and iPad to the country where Apple or its Authorized Distributors originally sold the device." from apple.com/legal/warranty/products/ipad-english-a.html which (incidentally) is the same as the iphone version. As I mentioned, I was refused services from an authorised apple repairer in Thailand. I rang apple direct whilst standing in the store (hoping they would back me up), they didn't! As it turned out, we got them fixed on a holiday back to Aus.
    – Madivad
    Commented Aug 25, 2013 at 11:34
  • Interesting, thanks. It does sound a bit vague -- "may restrict" -- I wonder what the criteria are? iPad was fine for me. Maybe this has changed recently.
    – nthonygreen
    Commented Aug 31, 2013 at 9:38

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