Apple is significantly extending the amount of time customers have to add AppleCare coverage to protect their iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and other hardware products. Bloomberg reports that Apple has informed retail and customer support employees that customers in the US and Canada now have up to one year to buy AppleCare+ coverage.
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Have you already purchased your iPhone but now decided that you’d like to protect it with AppleCare? Read on for how to add AppleCare to your iPhone within 60 days one year of purchase, even if you bought it from a carrier or another retailer.
Apple introduced AppleCare+ monthly plans in 2018, but this option was only available in the United States. Now, the company has confirmed that it’s expanding AppleCare+’s monthly plans to three more countries: Australia, Canada, and Japan.
The 2020 iPhone SE is an exciting device in a variety of ways and one of the most impressive aspects is the features to price balance. And it’s not just the $399 starting price of the device. Apple has also dropped its AppleCare two-year coverage plan to just $79. That’s down from $129 for the same plan for the iPhone 8.
Is AppleCare worth the price? Is AppleCare good value? These are questions I get asked a lot this time of year. While people generally buy Macs and iPads when they are falling apart, a lot of people love to buy the latest iPhone every other year, if not every year. Thanks to the iPhone Upgrade Program and leasing through cellular carriers, it’s gotten a lot easier to always carry the latest iPhone. I’ve never bought AppleCare on a device, and I’ve never regretted it.
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Apple this week very quietly launched another new Services product: an AppleCare+ subscription. It’s a move that could see the company doubling its money on what is likely to be a very profitable product.
Previously, you could choose between a one-off upfront payment for your AppleCare+ policy or a monthly one, but either way, it ran for a fixed period of either two or three years, depending on the product. Two years in the case of an iPhone.
Now, however, it runs indefinitely – for an indefinite payment…
Last year, Apple rolled out the option to pay monthly for some of its two (in some cases three) year AppleCare+ plans for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Today, Apple quietly changed how it works so customers can buy an indefinite monthly AppleCare+ subscription.
Apple quietly launched a new option to protect AirPods and some of its Beats headphones and earphones today with AppleCare+. Accidental coverage for two years comes with the super-affordable price of $29. And it’s possible to add the coverage to AirPods and other eligible headphones if you’ve purchased them within the last 60 days.
AppleCare+ details have been updated to include the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max. Read on for a look at what it will cost to protect your shiny new iPhone.
Have you already purchased an Apple Watch but now decided that you’d like to protect it with AppleCare? Follow along for how to add AppleCare to your Apple Watch within 60 days of purchase, even if you didn’t buy it from Apple.
A new report on smartphone damage trends offers some interesting details on how many devices were broken in 2018, how much consumers paid to fix them, and how repair costs have increased significantly in the last few years.
Apple has today expanded its AppleCare+ for Mac accidental coverage program to several more countries. The program was previously available in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand but is now available in new countries across Europe, North America, and more.
Along with the launch of the new iPad Pros today, we’re getting more details about aspects like iPad Pro replacement costs. As these are the most expensive iPads to date, they also carry the saltiest replacement fees with accidental damage costing up to $650 for those without AppleCare+.
If you’re planning to buy Apple’s latest iPhone, and wondering whether or not to get AppleCare+, the company has today revealed how much an iPhone XR repair will cost if you don’t.
The good news is that the iPhone XR repair cost is significantly lower than that of an iPhone X or XS …
The Information is reporting today on Apple’s five-year struggle to tackle iPhone repair fraud. The scheme centres around crime gangs who were buying or stealing iPhones, removing valuable parts like CPUs and screens, and then claiming their devices were broken at Apple Stores and getting the Genius to replace them under warranty. The parts were then sold on.
At its peak, Apple was seeing 60% of warranty repairs in China and Hong Kong as being fraudulent, literally costing Apple billions of dollars per year. Apple first started taking the problem seriously in 2013, and the report goes on to detail the cat and mouse game that then ensued between the criminals and Apple as the company tried to tackle iPhone repair fraud …
AppleCare+ for iPhone was refreshed after Apple’s event yesterday, and so was the protection plan for aluminum Apple Watch Series 4 models. Since 2015, AppleCare+ for the aluminum models has been $49, this year it’s seeing an increase.
Alongside releasing its new iPhone Xs, Xs Max and XR, Apple has updated is AppleCare+ protection plan. For an additional cost, customers can now opt for lost and stolen coverage. Apple has also introduced monthly payment options for both the standard and new AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss plan.
Hot on the heels of Apple’s education event, the company has now announced AppleCare+ pricing for its newly released $329 ($299 for education) iPad with support for Apple Pencil.
Apple has today extended its AppleCare+ for Mac program, previously only available in the United States and Japan, to New Zealand and Australia
[Update: Apple has changed its page back to allowing users to check their device’s warranty status without logging in with an Apple ID.]
In an update to its warranty coverage utility, Apple now requires users to log in with the Apple ID associated with a device before being able to check its warranty coverage status.
Previously, users could check the warranty of an iPhone using just its serial number or IMEI. This was especially useful for second-hand buyers.
Deciding whether or not to buy AppleCare+ with Apple products can be a tough decision, and the $999-$1149 price of the iPhone X doesn’t make the decision any easier. The cost of AppleCare+ increased for pricier iPhones, but so did the repair costs for out-of-warranty damage.
No one wants to get stuck with a huge out-of-pocket fee to repair a busted iPhone X, although it’s worth considering the math before buying or passing on AppleCare+ for iPhone X.
One of the decisions any iPhone buyer has to make is whether to take out AppleCare+ coverage, rely on other insurance policies or just pay out yourself for a repair should you break it.
For anyone tempted to assume the risk themselves, Apple’s newly-revealed pricing on iPhone X repairs may make you think again …
[UPDATE: It appears that Apple is back to offering a 60-day window for adding AppleCare+. It’s unclear if the 1-year window was a mistake or if Apple decided to revert back to the previous timeframe. Thanks, Don!]
Although Apple’s information page for AppleCare+ hasn’t been updated yet, it is now possible to add the AppleCare+ extended coverage to iPhones within a year window, instead of the previous 60 day limit.
I noted a few weeks ago that, given the ultra-low repairability of the new MacBook Pro, I was buying AppleCare for the first time. Pretty much anything going wrong with the machine – RAM, SSD, Touch Bar, even the power switch – is likely to require a whole new motherboard. And given that the screen is bonded into the lid of the case, we can also forget about repairing that.
So I bit the bullet and handed over the cash for an AppleCare policy. What we need when buying AppleCare is the 15-character registration code. What we actually get is a cardboard box containing not just one but two separate booklets totalling 92 pages …