iPhone Upgrade Program: Worth It? (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

It's almost better, I think, just to do payments without the upgrade program.

If you pay the phone off early, it's yours, and you can trade it in at maximum value for another phone and get into another payment plan.

The upgrade plan is actually more expensive because it includes Apple Care.

 

[TonyD]

Are you guys aware you can do similar programs through the carrier stores?
Att
Verizon etc all have an upgrade or trade program.

Apple isn’t the only place to buy an iPhone.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Are you guys aware you can do similar programs through the carrier stores?
Att
Verizon etc all have an upgrade or trade program.

Apple isn’t the only place to buy an iPhone.

Sprint offers a leasing program. Our current model Samsung Galaxy S10e and LG ThinQ phones cost us around $15 per month each, and we upgrade every 12 to 18 months.

I am not sure what the monthly lease rate is for an iPhone, but I think they had models for around $30 per month (didn't pay too much attention to the models).

 

[Robert Crawford]

Are you guys aware you can do similar programs through the carrier stores?
Att
Verizon etc all have an upgrade or trade program.

Apple isn’t the only place to buy an iPhone.

I'm pretty sure most of us that are participants in this thread are aware of those programs. I had one with AT&T. TBH, it's nice not having monthly payments on a cell phone that I rarely use nowadays.

 

[DaveF]

And for the non-annual upgrader, watch for promotions from retailers. I've never bought an iPhone directly from Apple because other stores offer better deals. Two years ago, it was Target with a solid trade-in value and a monthly rebate for using their financing. Hopefully I'll get something good next time I upgrade.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Starting with the 3GS, I used to upgrade every two years when a new S release would come out. Nowadays the iPhones have gotten so good, I’m now at three years and if I upgrade in 2020 it will be four years. If I don’t upgrade next year, it will be five years. It’s Apple’s fault for making the iPhones so damn good now.

 

[Thomas Newton]

It what I’ve just written is correct, you will always be making payments for a new phone. The buyer is not being granted some special favor allowing them a new phone, it’s coming out of your pocket. Apple gets back your old phone (my X, valued by apple at $400) plus 12 monthly payments. Ok, the first year the buyer doesn’t have a phone in the program, but after that, the buyer returns the old phone?

Yes. You're always paying for the old phone either by paying off all 24 installments – or by paying off at least half of them, and surrendering the phone in good condition. One year old phones are presumably worth at least half of their original value, or close enough that Apple is not getting a raw deal.

If you do the "pay some installments and surrender the phone" thing, you must buy a new phone. If you want to get off the treadmill, you must pay all 24 installments for your final phone. Then there will be no obligation to upgrade, and that phone will then be yours to keep.

 

[Sam Posten]

And for the non-annual upgrader, watch for promotions from retailers. I've never bought an iPhone directly from Apple because other stores offer better deals. Two years ago, it was Target with a solid trade-in value and a monthly rebate for using their financing. Hopefully I'll get something good next time I upgrade.

If you wait 6 months after release. But I want an Ooompa Loompa now daddy.

 

[DaveF]

If you wait 6 months after release. But I want an Ooompa Loompa now daddy.

By November in my previous two upgrades.

No doubt it’s too long for the annual day-of upgrader. But for anyone with a month or two to spare, deals have come out shortly after release.

 

[Sam Posten]

I know people poohpooh the Applecare fee built into upgrade program but I’ve used mine twice now for cracked glass in encased iPhones. This time I literally ran over my iPhone with an suv. Glass replaced for $29.

I dropped my phone in a parking kiosk. Nobody could come to pick it up for me. I had no choice but to pull forward and hope the phone wasn’t under the wheel line. It was. It crunched the glass but the frame held like a champ. I used it broken for a week and got it replaced yesterday. Looks better than new.

 

[DaveF]

Don’t you get that in the first year of any new iPhone without paying extra for AppleCare? Apple makes it impossible to learn just what’s covered in a standard warranty, but I thought basic screen repair was part of it.

I understand how someone wants to pay for coverage after the warranty expires, years 2, 3, etc. But i can‘t figure out what it gives in the first year of an iPhone. And the subscription model is essentially always buying a new iPhone for the first year.

Maybe not. I don’t know. Apple’s service coverage and warranty site just takes me in circles trying to figure out what’s covered in the normal warranty. Almost like they’re trying to upsell me an extended warranty plan...

 

[Sam Posten]

No. Screen repairs are only part of apple care and plus. The 1 year is for defects.

AppleCare Products - iPhone

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