AppleCare+ adds theft and loss protection for iPhone, starts at $14.99 per month

Overshadowed by Wednesday's hardware announcements, Apple is introducing a new tier to its AppleCare extended warranty service for iPhone that lets owners pay to protect against theft and loss.

According to Apple's dedicated AppleCare website, the new AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss product covers up to two incidents of accidental damage, theft or loss, each of which is subject to its own schedule of deductibles.

For instances of theft or loss, subscribers have to pay $199 to replace an iPhone 8, iPhone 7, iPhone 6S or iPhone 6. That fee jumps to $229 for iPhone XR, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6S Plus and iPhone 6 Plus, while top-of-the-line iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone X replacements cost $269 each.

The Theft and Loss package includes the same $29 and $99 fees for screen damage and accidental damage, respectively. Both tiers provide up to two years of Apple Support access, including software support, and eligibility for express hardware replacement.

As can be expected, the new AppleCare+ tier is a bit more expensive than Apple's longstanding AppleCare+ plan — 50 percent more expensive to be exact. New iPhone owners will have to shell out monthly payments of $14.99 for up to 24 months or a lump sum of $299, up from $9.99 per month and $199 for the original AppleCare+ plan.

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13 Comments

hentaiboy 1252 comments · 14 Years

About 6 years ago

Ah, so this is what they refer to as Apple’s growing “Service Business”

sweetheart777 64 comments · 6 Years

Hmmm... There's a risk that someone who has screen damage will think...

Should I pay $99 and get a new screen, or chuck the whole works into the garbage and get a brand new phone for $269? There is, after all, some advantage to having a phone that hasn't had its innards touched by a repair person.

My new XS Max should be careful about showing signs of breakage. Broken screen = death by wood chipper

davgreg 1046 comments · 9 Years

No new Macs. Just another monthly scratch of your pocket.

GeorgeBMac 11421 comments · 8 Years

This is a biggee!

My grandson's mom just had her phone stolen and had to buy a whole new one. (Yes, people do still steal iPhones!)

But, even bigger for my grandson. More and more kids are getting phones for a whole lot of reasons -- safety being one of them. But, a kid is simply far more likely to lose his phone if, for no other reason than, it often won't fit into their smaller pockets and/or they are playing rough & tumble sports and lay it down somewhere ...

BTW, last week I had a conversation about this with a rep at an Apple Store where I asked him about carrier plans that offered loss and damage versus the then 'damage only' for AppleCare: I got a really shitty answer and snotty 'talking down to me' attitude from him. I guess I was right. That seems to happen often in the Apple Store. At least the one near me.

foobar 108 comments · 16 Years

24 x $15?? … That's $560 if your iPhone 8 is stolen, and still $360 if nothing happens.
For a $599 phone.

You can get your screen replaced three times before AppleCare turns even (24 x $15 + 3 x $29 = $447 = 3 x $149), and even an out of warranty repair for a completely broken iPhone is cheaper than the entire plan.

I'll happily take those odds and save my money. I encourage you to do the same.(But interesting that they're moving to monthly payments. All signs pointing to an Apple Mega bundle including AppleCare+ with Music, TV and iCloud storage …)