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

AppleInsider

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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hentaiboy

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

sweetheart777

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

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

georgebmac

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

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 …)

georgebmac

foobar said:

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 …)

Apple care without loss & theft is still available at a lower cost.

And, your equation is less relevant if you get an X series phone. 

But, I agree with you:  people should do the math and compute the odds (for them) before laying out cash.

For example:   I think the odds of getting a payback on this insurance is much better if taken out on my grandson's phone than for mine.

ihatescreennames

sweetheart777 said:

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

Except you likely won’t get a brand new, in-the-box iPhone. You’ll get one of the newly manufactured phones that likely have already been taken in on a previous repair. Apple says they’re like new and tested the same but there’s a good chance it’s innards have been touched by a repair person. 

georgebmac

ihatescreennames said:

sweetheart777 said:

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

Except you likely won’t get a brand new, in-the-box iPhone. You’ll get one of the newly manufactured phones that likely have already been taken in on a previous repair. Apple says they’re like new and tested the same but there’s a good chance it’s innards have been touched by a repair person. 

So, you lost a used phone and Apple gives you a nice, professionally refurbished and tested one back that's in better shape than the one you lost.   So what's the problem?  Oh!  "Apple is a shit company ripping off its customers".   I get it!

ihatescreennames

GeorgeBMac said:

ihatescreennames said:

sweetheart777 said:

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

Except you likely won’t get a brand new, in-the-box iPhone. You’ll get one of the newly manufactured phones that likely have already been taken in on a previous repair. Apple says they’re like new and tested the same but there’s a good chance it’s innards have been touched by a repair person. 

So, you lost a used phone and Apple gives you a nice, professionally refurbished and tested one back that's in better shape than the one you lost.   So what's the problem?  Oh!  "Apple is a shit company ripping off its customers".   I get it!

You clearly don’t get it. I’m not sure how you got that from my post (that Apple is a shit company). I’m merely pointing out that when your iPhone is replaced by Apple, unless it’s done very early in the life of a brand new product, you won’t be getting back a brand new phone, as was implied by the comment I originally quoted. I have no issue with that policy and have had my iPhones replaced at least twice being fully aware of how that system works. 

georgebmac

ihatescreennames said:

GeorgeBMac said:

ihatescreennames said:

sweetheart777 said:

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

Except you likely won’t get a brand new, in-the-box iPhone. You’ll get one of the newly manufactured phones that likely have already been taken in on a previous repair. Apple says they’re like new and tested the same but there’s a good chance it’s innards have been touched by a repair person. 

So, you lost a used phone and Apple gives you a nice, professionally refurbished and tested one back that's in better shape than the one you lost.   So what's the problem?  Oh!  "Apple is a shit company ripping off its customers".   I get it!

You clearly don’t get it. I’m not sure how you got that from my post (that Apple is a shit company). I’m merely pointing out that when your iPhone is replaced by Apple, unless it’s done very early in the life of a brand new product, you won’t be getting back a brand new phone, as was implied by the comment I originally quoted. I have no issue with that policy and have had my iPhones replaced at least twice being fully aware of how that system works. 

Nice walk back!

The "Apple gave me a refurbished phone instead of a brand new one" whining has been going on here for quite awhile.

ihatescreennames

GeorgeBMac said:

ihatescreennames said:

GeorgeBMac said:

ihatescreennames said:

sweetheart777 said:

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

Except you likely won’t get a brand new, in-the-box iPhone. You’ll get one of the newly manufactured phones that likely have already been taken in on a previous repair. Apple says they’re like new and tested the same but there’s a good chance it’s innards have been touched by a repair person. 

So, you lost a used phone and Apple gives you a nice, professionally refurbished and tested one back that's in better shape than the one you lost.   So what's the problem?  Oh!  "Apple is a shit company ripping off its customers".   I get it!

You clearly don’t get it. I’m not sure how you got that from my post (that Apple is a shit company). I’m merely pointing out that when your iPhone is replaced by Apple, unless it’s done very early in the life of a brand new product, you won’t be getting back a brand new phone, as was implied by the comment I originally quoted. I have no issue with that policy and have had my iPhones replaced at least twice being fully aware of how that system works. 

Nice walk back!

The "Apple gave me a refurbished phone instead of a brand new one" whining has been going on here for quite awhile.

You need to reread this thread. “Nice walk back!” Go check my post history where I’ve stated the same thing about replacement phones several times to people complaining about the policy. Again, I have no issue here.  But someone who thinks they’re going to get a “new” phone using AppleCare+ is mistaken (unless, as I mentioned already, it’s very early in the life of a new product). 

Also, the phones aren’t refurbished, they are newly manufactured. And yes, there is a difference. You will never get a refurbished iPhone (or any other product) in a physical Apple Store through the Genius Bar. 

hammeroftruth

ihatescreennames said:

sweetheart777 said:

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

Except you likely won’t get a brand new, in-the-box iPhone. You’ll get one of the newly manufactured phones that likely have already been taken in on a previous repair. Apple says they’re like new and tested the same but there’s a good chance it’s innards have been touched by a repair person. 

The problem with this logic is the thinking that a "new in a retail box" iPhone is better than what Apple calls a "service part". 

Most of the time, when you are replacing an iPhone, depending on how old the generation is, it's usually a new phone or a remanufactered phone. What's the difference? A new phone is the same as one in a retail box. It just isn't in a fancy box and doesn't come with accessories.

A remanufactured phone is one who has been rebuilt for Apple by the same people who make the iPhone (Pegatron).  What does that mean? It means that the device might have been one that was DOA or had an issue during manufacturing or was one that was replaced for some reason or another. That device was disassembled, and all of the suspect parts were replaced by new parts, or if the phone is really old (iPhone 5 & 6),
refurbished parts are used. To Apple, it makes
no difference to them which one you get because both are considered new or equivalent. 

A refurbished phone is usually one that you get from your carrier or insurance like Asurion. Those are rebuilt by someone else, usually with 3rd party parts or with older used parts. These are the devices that have the most problems. 

A "new in retail box" phone does not guarantee that you will have no issues with it, you have the same risks as a service part. 

ihatescreennames

hammeroftruth said:

ihatescreennames said:

sweetheart777 said:

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

Except you likely won’t get a brand new, in-the-box iPhone. You’ll get one of the newly manufactured phones that likely have already been taken in on a previous repair. Apple says they’re like new and tested the same but there’s a good chance it’s innards have been touched by a repair person. 

The problem with this logic is the thinking that a "new in a retail box" iPhone is better than what Apple calls a "service part". 

I agree with your post entirely. To back up your thought about a NIB phone being “better” than a service part; I think it was my iPhone 6 or 6s came out of the wrapper with a vibrate/mute switch that didn’t work. It had been delivered to my house so a couple of days later I went to the Apple Store and got a service replacement. It worked just the same except for having a functional switch. So, clearly, the service part was “better” than the NIB phone I had received. 

The problem comes up when, as the original comment I quoted, people think they’ll be getting a “new” phone when using an AppleCare+ incident. It isn’t “new”, it’s a service replacement. As I mentioned earlier, Apple says the SR phones have gone through the same manufacturing process, it’s just that some of the parts have been recycled (for lack of a better word). They definitely get a new battery and new display, but maybe the logic board, Lightning port, cameras, etc, were in a phone that previously had been taken in by Apple during a repair/replacement. 

The only point I’ve been trying to make is that if you use an AppleCare+ incident don’t expect them to hand you a new iPhone box with iPhone, charger and cable. You’ll get a service replacement (that in most cases is a phone that has parts from a previously used phone). Oh, and you’ll be turning in your “old” phone. It’s a swap. Similar to handing over your old battery when you replace your car battery. 

Edit: and, not that this is on you, but I’m still failing to see how anything I’ve written could be me trying to present Apple in a bad light, as others seem to think. I’m just stating the way it is. 

edited September 2018