AppleCare+ for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch can be extended out to service life of product

A new monthly payment plan for AppleCare is available, and if you want to pay for it, you can get your iPhone or iPad covered against theft, loss, and damage for about five years.

The new monthly plans debuted quietly on Tuesday following Apple's iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, Apple Watch, and iPad event. Rather than limiting users to two or three years of service from date of purchase, service plans can be extended by the user until the end of repair by Apple.

Based on some conversations with sources within Apple not authorized to speak on behalf of the company, the end of service for a product will be when Apple calls it "vintage." Vintage status is generally declared when the last manufacturing date of a product was between five and seven years prior.

Apple sources also say that Apple reserves the right to cut off service before those five years. However, it must inform the customer in writing that it is doing so.

Originating AppleCare+ coverage must still start within 60 days of product purchase. Before Tuesday, there were still AppleCare plans — not AppleCare+ plans — that could be purchased after those 60 days and it isn't clear if those are still available now.

The number of "incidents" that a user is allowed is still limited to two in a 24 month period. Unused incidents after any given 24 months period has elapsed are lost. It doesn't appear that there is a way to migrate a pre-paid plan already in effect to the new monthly program at this time.

And, there is a small price premium to pay. The fixed-length two- or three-year plans are cheaper than the monthly plans, with the exact amount of savings variable depending on what product you are insuring.

Apple's Mac lineup and the HomePod are not eligible for the monthly plans, but can still benefit the pre-paid, fixed-term plans.

13 Comments

smaffei 237 comments · 11 Years

About 5 years ago

Basically, Apple knows that fewer people are upgrading. So, they've devised a way to try and collect some money from people who are refusing to buy new phones.

It won't work. Most people can do math. They will work their old phone 'without a net' until it truly dies and then they will buy a phone at the bottom of the pricing structure (which is still cheaper that what the plan would have cost them and newer than the old phone).

tmay 6455 comments · 11 Years

smaffei said:

Basically, Apple knows that fewer people are upgrading. So, they've devised a way to try and collect some money from people who are refusing to buy new phones.
It won't work. Most people can do math. They will work their old phone 'without a net' until it truly dies and then they will buy a phone at the bottom of the pricing structure (which is still cheaper that what the plan would have cost them and newer than the old phone).

That's true, but as an example of myself, if I'm keeping an iPhone 11 Pro Max for three years, why wouldn't I pay a bit extra and get three years of AppleCare+ rather than two?

Mike Wuerthele 6901 comments · 8 Years

smaffei said:

Basically, Apple knows that fewer people are upgrading. So, they've devised a way to try and collect some money from people who are refusing to buy new phones.
It won't work. Most people can do math. They will work their old phone 'without a net' until it truly dies and then they will buy a phone at the bottom of the pricing structure (which is still cheaper that what the plan would have cost them and newer than the old phone).

There is no obligation to keep that AppleCare+ for five years. A two-year plan for the iPhone 11 costs $149, with it selling for $199 on the iPhone 11 Pro. There is a price premium for monthly, so let's say $100 per year on the iPhone 11, and $150 per year on the 11 Pro.

Even if you say five years on the 11 Pro, that's $750. You'd have to go the full five years with no incidents for your "without a net" scenario to play out.

Insurance on consumer electronics is a gamble. Where the line of acceptable risk is, depends very much user to user.

Soli 9981 comments · 9 Years

I don't think this is common knowledge so I'll post it: For the AppleCare/AppleCare+ that you pay up front, you can get a rebate for the unused service if you sell your iPhone before the 2 or 3 years is up.

smaffei said:

Basically, Apple knows that fewer people are upgrading. So, they've devised a way to try and collect some money from people who are refusing to buy new phones.
It won't work. Most people can do math. They will work their old phone 'without a net' until it truly dies and then they will buy a phone at the bottom of the pricing structure (which is still cheaper that what the plan would have cost them and newer than the old phone).

I wish I had the option for an extended warranty on my current iPhone.

Joe Piervincenti 26 comments · 6 Years

tmay said:

smaffei said:

Basically, Apple knows that fewer people are upgrading. So, they've devised a way to try and collect some money from people who are refusing to buy new phones.
It won't work. Most people can do math. They will work their old phone 'without a net' until it truly dies and then they will buy a phone at the bottom of the pricing structure (which is still cheaper that what the plan would have cost them and newer than the old phone).

That's true, but as an example of myself, if I'm keeping an iPhone 11 Pro Max for three years, why wouldn't I pay a bit extra and get three years of AppleCare+ rather than two?

People love to think everything Apple tries to sell is BS and no one will take advantage. It's ridiculous lol