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Apple's 2025 Back to School Sale Now Live, Offering Free Accessories With Purchases

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Apple today launched its annual Back to School promotion, offering eligible students, educators, and parents free accessories worth up to $199 when purchasing select Mac and iPad models through September 30.

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The 2025 promotion is different from last year's up-to-$150 gift card format, and instead provides eligible customers with their choice of popular Apple accessories. Some accessories are completely free, while other more expensive options incur an additional fee on top of the main device purchase. Here's a breakdown of what's on offer.

MacBook Buyers

Customers purchasing any new MacBook can select from accessories valued up to $199:
  • AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (free, $179 value)
  • AirPods Pro 2 (additional $70 fee, $249 total value)
  • Magic Mouse ($79–$99 value)
  • Magic Trackpad ($129–$149 value)
  • Magic Keyboard with Touch ID ($179–$199 value)
iPad Buyers

iPad buyers can choose accessories ranging from $119 to $210 in value:
  • Apple Pencil Pro (free, $119 value)
  • AirPods 4 (free, $129 value)
  • AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (free, $179 value)
  • Premium keyboard options available with additional fees up to $210
Magic Keyboard accessories are available for various iPad models, though they all require paying an additional fee on top of the price of the iPad.
iMac Buyers

iMac purchasers can select accessories worth up to $179:
  • AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (free, $179 value)
  • AirPods Pro 2 (additional $70 fee, $179 value)
The promotion is open to K-12 employees, including teachers and school board members, plus higher education faculty, staff, and students. Parents buying for college-bound children also qualify. The promotion runs alongside Apple's year-round education pricing discounts.

The offer begins today and remains available through September 30, 2025, with full terms and conditions available on Apple's education store.

Article Link: Apple's 2025 Back to School Sale Now Live, Offering Free Accessories With Purchases
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/06/17/apple-back-to-school-2025-now-live/
Astuces iOS said:
Imagine already having AirPods Pro 2, a Magic Mouse/or trackpad and a keyboard… 💀

I always preferred gift cards
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Right there with ya! Hmm, I guess the AirPods 4 are more easily “eBay-able” I suppose. Been waiting to grab 13” and 15” MacBook Airs for me and the wife. She has the AirPods 4 and I’ve got Pro 2s already. I use a Studio Display so already got the Magic Keyboard and Trackpad (although Lightning-based). Maybe I’ll re-up my keyboard and trackpad and eBay the old ones? Each MacBook is $50 cheaper on Amazon with higher cashback… Save $142 on Amazon, or I guess I could get a little make more than that by selling the AirPods.. Really would’ve preferred the gift cards to fund the AppleCare haha.
 
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I'd prefer the gift card option, but I can also understand the draw for Apple in providing a product instead.

It's not too bad to be able to buy the base M4 MacBook Air for $900 and get a set of AirPods Pro 2 for $70 (total of $969). You could, however, possibly piece together a similar deal but there's nothing currently that's broadly available that beats that price.

Amazon has the base M4 Air for $850 and AirPods Pro for $169. That's a total of $1019, or $968.05 if you have a Prime credit card and get the 5% cashback. Apple's price with the Apple Card and 3% cashback would be $939.93. The savings of buying from Apple is thus only about $30 in that specific case.

Other accessories that don't go on sale like AirPods Pro do could save you more money buying through Apple.
 
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Apple today launched its annual Back to School promotion, offering eligible students, educators, and parents free accessories worth up to $199 when purchasing select Mac and iPad models through September 30.
Click to expand...
What a terrible offer. These accessories (e.g. AirPods) are almost always on sale which means that $199 value is actually a lot lower.
 
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Innovati0n said:
Tossing in a Magic Keyboard with a MacBook is weird to me. I get that it'd be handy for those who dock their MacBook but those people likely already have a keyboard solution anyway.

Including that with a Mac mini would be a huge win and make more sense but they didn't do it.
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Feels like a trackpad or mouse option should be with the iMac as well.

Many would likely both but will only receive one when they buy an iMac.
 
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DrRadon said:
Gotta love people complaining about 100-150€ worth of free stuff.
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Gotta love people complaining about others complaining.

These are products that mostly cost over 1 grand and previous Back to School promos had arguably better deals attached to them.

Apple has a large marketing and public relations budget, they don't need the free PR work from customers.
 
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The problem here is that Apple has got more aggressive at selling inventory below RRP through resellers like Amazon and Best Buy, so the student discount, which was pretty great when Apple barely let anything go below RRP, really isn't impressive anymore - free AirPods are a nice touch but I'd imagine that most students who want them, already have them - it'd be better if there was a new generation.
 
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I did this deal last year for a MBP and I definitely prefer the gift card. However, if you just so happened to need one of the accessories then it works out good.
 
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ricketysquire said:
Back in my day the back to school sale was much better. You got the student discount, a free printer and a free iPod touch.
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Back in my day they didn't have any free stuff.

But the price on a PowerBook 140 at the campus bookstore was pretty good.

They didn't really do "back to school" sales.

And... June? Really? School just got out, I'd have HATED seeing "back to school" in June as a kid.
 
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HighwaySnowman said:
Back in my day they didn't have any free stuff.

But the price on a PowerBook 140 at the campus bookstore was pretty good.

They didn't really do "back to school" sales.

And... June? Really? School just got out, I'd have HATED seeing "back to school" in June as a kid.
Click to expand...

True. Albeit, here in CO, CU Boulder ended over a month ago. And the High schools were out before Memorial Day. Some fall sports already have open gyms (volleyball) and open runs (cross country).
 
Innovati0n said:
Tossing in a Magic Keyboard with a MacBook is weird to me. I get that it'd be handy for those who dock their MacBook but those people likely already have a keyboard solution anyway.

Including that with a Mac mini would be a huge win and make more sense but they didn't do it.
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Given that the iMac is now 24" junk and almost everybody is better off buying a mini instead, they're probably trying to get them to move.

I've been strongly discouraging iMac purchases ever since the M1 came out. It's just a really bad design, and it's cheaper to get a mini and 27" 4k 3rd party screen.
 
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DrRadon said:
Gotta love people complaining about 100-150€ worth of free stuff.
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Oh, so next time you buy some ice cream and you get a box of horse ****, are you gonna complain? Or be happy with your free stuff...

Yeah, we complain and compare this weak pathetic offer to previous sales. Looking at your euro sign, you're not even here, why'd you care about a US sale?
 
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