Apple extends AppleCare+ purchase deadline to one year for iPhone, report says

AppleInsider

According to a recent report, Apple appears to be bringing its AppleCare+ plan for iPhone more in line with offerings for the Mac and Apple TV, and looks to be allowing users to purchase the plan up to a year after initial device purchase.

First reported by MacRumors, the service that retails for $129 for an iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, and $99 for an iPhone SE, may soon be able to be purchased much later than the 60 days that is currently allowed.

While AppleInsider could not confirm the new timetable, it was also not denied by the Apple staffers both at retail and on support lines we spoke with. The AppleCare web page has also not yet been updated.

In tandem with announcing the iPhone 7 family, Apple also revised its AppleCare+ plans for iPhones, instituting a $29 screen replacement option. However, the repair fee was increased to $99 for any other form of accidental damage.

In addition to offering cheaper accident repairs, AppleCare+ also extends general warranty and support coverage to two years. Normally iPhones include just a year of defect repairs and replacements, plus 90 days of support.

sboucher

Apple has already allowed this for awhile. My daughter broke her iPhone 5 and we didn't buy apple care. They just charged us the $99 like we did, even after the 1 year deadline. That was the most cost effective way to fix her phone according the Apple Store in Oklahoma City. 

seanismorris

Hope this is true with IPads as well.

Apple products having fragile glass screens that made this necessary.  I'm going to assume glass is here to stay.

The policy change was probably motivated the "right to fix" and pushback from repair shops.

darkvader

Motherf**ker.

When I bought my iPhone 6+, it was still under warranty.  I would have bought the AppleCare if I could.

Now it's got touch disease, and they want $150 to fix it.

darkvader

seanismorris said:

Hope this is true with IPads as well.

Apple products having fragile glass screens that made this necessary.  I'm going to assume glass is here to stay.

The policy change was probably motivated the "right to fix" and pushback from repair shops.

It probably was.

That doesn't mean we need to let up on right to fix.  These devices have a life well beyond the two years that you get from AppleCare+.  I gave my kid my old 5s, which was already used when I got it.  It's over 3 years old now, I've put a third party battery in it, and it's still going strong.  It's got a few more years left at least.

thewhitefalcon

darkvader said:

seanismorris said:

Hope this is true with IPads as well.

Apple products having fragile glass screens that made this necessary.  I'm going to assume glass is here to stay.

The policy change was probably motivated the "right to fix" and pushback from repair shops.

It probably was.

That doesn't mean we need to let up on right to fix.  These devices have a life well beyond the two years that you get from AppleCare+.  I gave my kid my old 5s, which was already used when I got it.  It's over 3 years old now, I've put a third party battery in it, and it's still going strong.  It's got a few more years left at least.

"Right to fix" = force companies to sell parts that potentially compromise security because people can't care for their devices. 

seanismorris

I'm not a fan of "right to fix" either.

The number one reason for buying Apple is security.  If IPad's come with a 1 year warranty and I can extend it another 2 years with AppleCare that's good enough.

If it brakes in year 4 oh well...  by that time battery life probably is not that great anyways.

Laptops should last 5-6 years...

xbit

darkvader said:

Now it's got touch disease, and they want $150 to fix it.

Isn't "touch disease" a known issue that Apple will fix for free outside of warranty?

strangedays

darkvader said:

seanismorris said:

Hope this is true with IPads as well.

Apple products having fragile glass screens that made this necessary.  I'm going to assume glass is here to stay.

The policy change was probably motivated the "right to fix" and pushback from repair shops.

It probably was.

That doesn't mean we need to let up on right to fix.  These devices have a life well beyond the two years that you get from AppleCare+.  I gave my kid my old 5s, which was already used when I got it.  It's over 3 years old now, I've put a third party battery in it, and it's still going strong.  It's got a few more years left at least.

Not having the so called right to fix laws wouldn't prevent you from doing battery repairs. 

mac_128

darkvader said:

Motherf**ker.

When I bought my iPhone 6+, it was still under warranty.  I would have bought the AppleCare if I could.

Now it's got touch disease, and they want $150 to fix it.

I feel your pain. I bought a used iPhone 5s with two months left on its original 1 year Apple Care warranty. Shortly after I got it, the flash stopped working and the Apple Store replaced it with a brand new 5s. However, they would not sell me Apple Care Plus for it, because the original purchase was past the 60 day window, despite this being a brand new replacement phone. About a year later (still within the one year warranty period of a new phone, which this replacement was), a software update caused a previously undetected defect to to fail (Apple's diagnosis), which disabled my Touch ID, and caused an abnormal power drain. Apple refused any Apple Care servicing options, and only gave me the option to pay $250 to have it repaired out of warranty. I chose not to do that, and lived with the issues until the SE came out. Now that 5s, which has no resale value, is a backup. Had I been able to buy AC+ when I received the phone, or even on the replacement phone, Apple would have made more money off of me (after already selling the original phone to its first owner), and I would still have bought the SE (with Apple Care Plus), but had a better experience with the 5s, and been able to sell it to someone else -- perhaps someone buying their first iPhone.

edited March 2017

linkman

darkvader said:

Motherf**ker.

When I bought my iPhone 6+, it was still under warranty.  I would have bought the AppleCare if I could.

Now it's got touch disease, and they want $150 to fix it.

Assuming that you paying for the repair is the only option now, wouldn't you be out only an additional $21 for that repair now? Apple Care+ would have cost you $129 (that's the current price, I don't know the price when you bought the phone). If you have additional problems during the covered period it's a different story...

georgebmac

Apple is a great company because it makes its customer's lives better.   Any improvement in warranty service (even if it is a warranty you have to buy) will further that goal -- especially as people keep their phones longer than the previous automatic 2 year cycle fed by the wireless carrier's contracts...