What has changed with AppleCare+ for iPhone XS or Apple Watch and why you should consider ...

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 35
    jcs2305 said:
    Xs Max screen repair without AppleCare $329.00. Other damage $599.00.
    Does that seem reasonable to you? To me a flat-rate of $600 to repair a hand-held device seems really, really, high. That's the same price as a set of brakes on my car.

    The other side of this is the broad disparity in price between insured and uninsured repairs. With Applecare+, a non-screen repair works out to $230. Without AppleCare it's more than two-and-a-half times as much. Does that mean AppleCare is the greatest value ever for the klutzy iPhone owner, or does it suggest that Apple is inflating the cost of uninsured repairs in a bid to push a steady revenue stream through sales of AppleCare?

    I don't know whether Apple's repair costs are actually reasonable, nor whether Applecare+ is a good value. I just know what my gut says, and it's telling me that the cost of playing in Apple's garden is starting to stretch beyond what I'm willing to pay. I'll pay more to get a better product, but within reason. When a good laptop runs $5000 and a flagship phone is $2K, I'm not sure there's enough added value in the Apple brand to justify the price of admission anymore.
    That you would equate a super sophisticated product like an iPhone Xs to a set or brakes pretty much says it all.   I agree that working brakes are a higher priority.   But that doesn't impact their cost.
    Fair enough. Maybe that comparison was a poor choice.

    The point I was trying to make is that I'm feeling a level of price sensitivity with Apple products I haven't experienced before. Apple stuff has always been expensive, but not to the point where I thought I wasn't getting my money's worth. Prices are now high enough that I'm starting to question the value proposition. The rising price of AppleCare is one example of what's giving me pause.
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 22 of 35
    AppleCare is 100% not worth it...do the math.

    I have a $27 per year rider on my homeowners policy that covers all the screens in my house (my ENTIRE household) which in our case is 4 iPhones.
    I find the coverage better than AppleCare...two major differences:  $50 deductible under my policy and the kicker...it does NOT end after two years.

    If my family somehow cracks their screen twice a year for two years...I am saving over $350 by having the rider on my policy - that number jumps if I break the screen in year 3.
    fastasleep
  • Reply 23 of 35
    That's the same price as a set of brakes on my car.
    ..........That's the same price as a set of brakes on my car.

    ....... I agree that working brakes are a higher priority.....
    I think you guys struck gold!

    The back of the iPhone should be made of organic brake-pad material!

    Inexpensive, and very durable!

    Wait it probably also would crack when dropped....

    Oh well.

    Happy Shopping all!
    edited September 2018
  • Reply 24 of 35
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Make it more fraglie, but show of (it is only a tool for Pete's sake!) and you can get mor like AppleCare+++. That is also a reason to look at alternatives to iPhone's.
    They also break just as easily.

    let’s face it, people want wireless charging. It’s not an incentive to me, but it seems to have taken the phone world over. And as long as we have that, we have glass backs on expensive phones. And people done seem to want plastic backs, even though a few do complain that they do.
  • Reply 25 of 35
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member

    jcs2305 said:
    Xs Max screen repair without AppleCare $329.00. Other damage $599.00.
    Does that seem reasonable to you? To me a flat-rate of $600 to repair a hand-held device seems really, really, high. That's the same price as a set of brakes on my car.

    The other side of this is the broad disparity in price between insured and uninsured repairs. With Applecare+, a non-screen repair works out to $230. Without AppleCare it's more than two-and-a-half times as much. Does that mean AppleCare is the greatest value ever for the klutzy iPhone owner, or does it suggest that Apple is inflating the cost of uninsured repairs in a bid to push a steady revenue stream through sales of AppleCare?

    I don't know whether Apple's repair costs are actually reasonable, nor whether Applecare+ is a good value. I just know what my gut says, and it's telling me that the cost of playing in Apple's garden is starting to stretch beyond what I'm willing to pay. I'll pay more to get a better product, but within reason. When a good laptop runs $5000 and a flagship phone is $2K, I'm not sure there's enough added value in the Apple brand to justify the price of admission anymore.
    Other phone makers charge a lot for repair too. My daughter has a habit of dropping her phone on the sidewalk. Sometimes the screen breaks. AppleCare allows her to get it fixed relatively cheaply. So yes, it’s worth it. But it’s insurance. Carriers offer smartphone insurance for many phones. Usually that costs between $5 -10 a month for as l9ng as you have your phone. So one years worth can be $120 for an expensive phone, and, if you read about it, is very hard to get if your phone is broken, lost or stolen. Then the second year, you’re paying the same amount again. AppleCare isn’t terribly expensive.

    Your prices are over the top. Do you really need a phone with 512GB storage? That’s the top line Max, which with that that storage is $1445, not $2,000.
    edited September 2018
  • Reply 26 of 35
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    AppleCare is 100% not worth it...do the math.

    I have a $27 per year rider on my homeowners policy that covers all the screens in my house (my ENTIRE household) which in our case is 4 iPhones.
    I find the coverage better than AppleCare...two major differences:  $50 deductible under my policy and the kicker...it does NOT end after two years.

    If my family somehow cracks their screen twice a year for two years...I am saving over $350 by having the rider on my policy - that number jumps if I break the screen in year 3.
    I’d like to see that.
  • Reply 27 of 35
    jcs2305jcs2305 Posts: 1,336member
    jcs2305 said:
    Xs Max screen repair without AppleCare $329.00. Other damage $599.00.
    Does that seem reasonable to you? To me a flat-rate of $600 to repair a hand-held device seems really, really, high. That's the same price as a set of brakes on my car.

    The other side of this is the broad disparity in price between insured and uninsured repairs. With Applecare+, a non-screen repair works out to $230. Without AppleCare it's more than two-and-a-half times as much. Does that mean AppleCare is the greatest value ever for the klutzy iPhone owner, or does it suggest that Apple is inflating the cost of uninsured repairs in a bid to push a steady revenue stream through sales of AppleCare?

    I don't know whether Apple's repair costs are actually reasonable, nor whether Applecare+ is a good value. I just know what my gut says, and it's telling me that the cost of playing in Apple's garden is starting to stretch beyond what I'm willing to pay. I'll pay more to get a better product, but within reason. When a good laptop runs $5000 and a flagship phone is $2K, I'm not sure there's enough added value in the Apple brand to justify the price of admission anymore.
    It doesn't seem reasonable to me, but that doesn't change the price.  I agree with you honestly... and I was pissed when they raised both the repair prices and the price of Applecare.  On the other hand I have taken my phone in with the slightest thing wrong and it was swapped out without issue because of Apple care. Utilization of Applecare isn't always because of a drop and that is what I like about the extra coverage.  My original response to the OP was about not getting Applecare and just putting money into savings instead. Apple care and the repair deductible are cheaper than the repair without it. 

    I am treating myself this year, but I have been having a hard time wrapping my head around these prices.  I am coming from an 8 plus that is going to her, and I am getting the Xs Max.  I need to be seriously impressed with this device or it will go back, and I will grab a XR when they become available.
    GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 28 of 35
    melgross said:
    Your prices are over the top.
    Canuck bux.

    iPhone XS Max
    256GB: $1,729.00
    512GB: $1,999.00
    Applecare+: $249.00

    melgross said:
    Do you really need a phone with 512GB storage?
    Nope, I need 100-150GB, but that's not the point. Is a dollar per gigabyte good value? Maybe. I don't know.

    melgross said:
    That’s the top line Max, which with that that storage is $1445, not $2,000.
    USD$1,445.00 was about CAD$2,000.00 at the time Apple was setting the prices. The Canadian dollar is stronger against the US dollar now, which makes the iPhone even less attractive. We pay ~$130 extra, above and beyond currency conversion.

  • Reply 29 of 35

    jcs2305 said:
    I am treating myself this year, but I have been having a hard time wrapping my head around these prices.
    It's not just the phones for me. I'm still grumbling about paying so much for the Apple TV 4K only to find out it does not provide a better experience than cheap alternatives (or even work properly).  My current MacBook Pro is by FAR the most expensive computer I've ever owned. We've had to postpone updating my wife's laptop because we can't get a 15" at a price we can afford this year.

    The phones are just the latest in a series of sticker shocks.

    I'm not saying the products are overpriced -- maybe they are, maybe they aren't -- just that they're scaling up to a point that may drop me out the bottom of Apple's market.
  • Reply 30 of 35
    adamcadamc Posts: 583member
    If you are buying a watch, buy AppleCare before the warranty is up because Apple don't repair the watch but will make you a one for one exchange, I know I made the mistake of not buying it.
  • Reply 31 of 35
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    melgross said:
    Your prices are over the top.
    Canuck bux.

    iPhone XS Max
    256GB: $1,729.00
    512GB: $1,999.00
    Applecare+: $249.00

    melgross said:
    Do you really need a phone with 512GB storage?
    Nope, I need 100-150GB, but that's not the point. Is a dollar per gigabyte good value? Maybe. I don't know.

    melgross said:
    That’s the top line Max, which with that that storage is $1445, not $2,000.
    USD$1,445.00 was about CAD$2,000.00 at the time Apple was setting the prices. The Canadian dollar is stronger against the US dollar now, which makes the iPhone even less attractive. We pay ~$130 extra, above and beyond currency conversion.

    Oh, not real bucks then.
  • Reply 32 of 35
    melgross said:
    melgross said:
    Your prices are over the top.
    Canuck bux.

    iPhone XS Max
    256GB: $1,729.00
    512GB: $1,999.00
    Applecare+: $249.00

    melgross said:
    Do you really need a phone with 512GB storage?
    Nope, I need 100-150GB, but that's not the point. Is a dollar per gigabyte good value? Maybe. I don't know.

    melgross said:
    That’s the top line Max, which with that that storage is $1445, not $2,000.
    USD$1,445.00 was about CAD$2,000.00 at the time Apple was setting the prices. The Canadian dollar is stronger against the US dollar now, which makes the iPhone even less attractive. We pay ~$130 extra, above and beyond currency conversion.

    Oh, not real bucks then.
    Are you sure they're not real? Seems like a lot of people and companies want me to give them as many as possible, to the point of offering me valuable products and services to get them.
  • Reply 33 of 35
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    melgross said:
    melgross said:
    Your prices are over the top.
    Canuck bux.

    iPhone XS Max
    256GB: $1,729.00
    512GB: $1,999.00
    Applecare+: $249.00

    melgross said:
    Do you really need a phone with 512GB storage?
    Nope, I need 100-150GB, but that's not the point. Is a dollar per gigabyte good value? Maybe. I don't know.

    melgross said:
    That’s the top line Max, which with that that storage is $1445, not $2,000.
    USD$1,445.00 was about CAD$2,000.00 at the time Apple was setting the prices. The Canadian dollar is stronger against the US dollar now, which makes the iPhone even less attractive. We pay ~$130 extra, above and beyond currency conversion.

    Oh, not real bucks then.
    Are you sure they're not real? Seems like a lot of people and companies want me to give them as many as possible, to the point of offering me valuable products and services to get them.
    You know what I mean. We go by the US pricing, not the pricing in other countries, which includes tariffs and other fees. So when our daughter went to the university in London, we were told to buy her Macbook Pro here in New York, because of the tariffs and the extra 10% they add there for goods with less than some percentage of U.K. made part content. Because of that, prices can vary wildly in different places. So the base price is that here in the US.
    edited September 2018
  • Reply 34 of 35
    melgross said:
    melgross said:
    melgross said:
    Your prices are over the top.
    Canuck bux.

    iPhone XS Max
    256GB: $1,729.00
    512GB: $1,999.00
    Applecare+: $249.00

    melgross said:
    Do you really need a phone with 512GB storage?
    Nope, I need 100-150GB, but that's not the point. Is a dollar per gigabyte good value? Maybe. I don't know.

    melgross said:
    That’s the top line Max, which with that that storage is $1445, not $2,000.
    USD$1,445.00 was about CAD$2,000.00 at the time Apple was setting the prices. The Canadian dollar is stronger against the US dollar now, which makes the iPhone even less attractive. We pay ~$130 extra, above and beyond currency conversion.

    Oh, not real bucks then.
    Are you sure they're not real? Seems like a lot of people and companies want me to give them as many as possible, to the point of offering me valuable products and services to get them.
    You know what I mean. We go by the US pricing, not the pricing in other countries, which includes tariffs and other fees. So when our daughter went to the university in London, we were told to buy her Macbook Pro here in New York, because of the tariffs and the extra 10% they add there for goods with less than some percentage of U.K. made part content. Because of that, prices can vary wildly in different places. So the base price is that here in the US.
    Who is "we?" To someone living in Germany, the price in the USA is irrelevant. Besides, If tariffs and fees affect Apple products, they would apply to competing products from other suppliers too, so the relative difference between brands stays the same.

    As an aside, just for your information, there's none of that in Canada. The price of an Apple product in Canada is almost always the same as in the USA, just adjusted for the difference in currency. Sometimes that means currency fluctuations make things just slightly more expensive here, other times it actually makes them slightly cheaper. The maxed-out Max costing $130 more than the currency-adjusted US price is unusual. Here's hoping it's a hiccup and not the start of a trend.
  • Reply 35 of 35
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    melgross said:
    melgross said:
    melgross said:
    Your prices are over the top.
    Canuck bux.

    iPhone XS Max
    256GB: $1,729.00
    512GB: $1,999.00
    Applecare+: $249.00

    melgross said:
    Do you really need a phone with 512GB storage?
    Nope, I need 100-150GB, but that's not the point. Is a dollar per gigabyte good value? Maybe. I don't know.

    melgross said:
    That’s the top line Max, which with that that storage is $1445, not $2,000.
    USD$1,445.00 was about CAD$2,000.00 at the time Apple was setting the prices. The Canadian dollar is stronger against the US dollar now, which makes the iPhone even less attractive. We pay ~$130 extra, above and beyond currency conversion.

    Oh, not real bucks then.
    Are you sure they're not real? Seems like a lot of people and companies want me to give them as many as possible, to the point of offering me valuable products and services to get them.
    You know what I mean. We go by the US pricing, not the pricing in other countries, which includes tariffs and other fees. So when our daughter went to the university in London, we were told to buy her Macbook Pro here in New York, because of the tariffs and the extra 10% they add there for goods with less than some percentage of U.K. made part content. Because of that, prices can vary wildly in different places. So the base price is that here in the US.
    Who is "we?" To someone living in Germany, the price in the USA is irrelevant. Besides, If tariffs and fees affect Apple products, they would apply to competing products from other suppliers too, so the relative difference between brands stays the same.

    As an aside, just for your information, there's none of that in Canada. The price of an Apple product in Canada is almost always the same as in the USA, just adjusted for the difference in currency. Sometimes that means currency fluctuations make things just slightly more expensive here, other times it actually makes them slightly cheaper. The maxed-out Max costing $130 more than the currency-adjusted US price is unusual. Here's hoping it's a hiccup and not the start of a trend.
    We, as in those of us in this forum. Even though there are a few people from other countries here, and they’re welcome, of course, this is a US based site, with mostly US based readers. The US price is therefore the most important, and when we compare pricing from year to year, and model to model, we use the US pricing to do so. The pricing this site announces is that US pricing.

    if you want to tell us that pricing in Canada, or elsewhere is different, that’s fine, but just don’t expect us to get what your saying with pricing without making that clear from the beginning.
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