Apple is making its AppleCare+ prolonged guarantee plan slightly dearer for some customers.
For all present fashions in the US, Apple is elevating the month-to-month subscription value by 50 cents. Meaning the month-to-month value of normal AppleCare+ for an iPhone 16 is now $8.49 as an alternative of $7.99. The worth improve applies to all present iPhone fashions and to each AppleCare+ and AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss.
AppleCare+ gives repairs for as much as 2 incidents of theft or loss protection each 12 months for a deductible (Display or again glass injury, $29; different unintended injury, $99).
What’s extra, Apple appears to be encouraging shoppers to pay this month-to-month payment extra typically. Whilst you can nonetheless purchase the usual full up-front 2 years of AppleCare+ protection on the level of buy when you purchase on-line, the identical isn’t true of retail purchases. As reported by Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, the corporate will not enable the up-front 2-year buy possibility at retail or within the AppleCare menu possibility on the iPhone itself.
Gurman says Apple Retailer workers have been instructed to inform clients the change is “designed to lower upfront costs and prevent future gaps in coverage.” What’s extra, they’re instructed to push the pricier Theft & Loss model of AppleCare+, which gives a substitute iPhone for $149 and prices as a lot as $13.99 a month relying on the iPhone mannequin.
Be aware that the value improve for AppleCare+ seems to solely apply to iPhones, and never but to different Apple merchandise. The month-to-month value of AppleCare+ for the Mac ranges from $6.49 to $17.99 a month, whereas the iPad prices between $3.49 and $8.49 relying on the mannequin.
