Apple Reportedly Advised Technicians to Push iPhone Upgrades to Customers With Out-of-Warranty Devices

[thekeyring]

“We love the environment and are taking steps to reduce our impact.”

Also Apple,

“Buy a new phone every 12 months. Ignore the e-waste and negative effects of mining raw materials.”

They don't ignore the negative effects of mining raw materials. They encourage you to return your iPhone to an Apple store to be recycled, and are aiming for a closed-loop supply chain.
[doublepost=1549701356][/doublepost]

Maybe if they made phones people wanted...

I know I wouldn't mind upgrading, if Apple made something I wanted.

Seeing as you used to use a Windows Phone and appear to be all-in on the Microsoft ecosystem, I don't think Apple products are targeted at you. Also, you wanting a product is evidently not a sign of its success, quality, or mass appeal.

 

[one more]

If they reduce the iPhone physical sizes and lower the prices they might just find a nice new income stream.

 

[Piggie]

I will admit it does make me wonder just a little....
No scrub that. I'm 100% sure of this....

Deep inside Apple when talks are going on around the top table, the pricing of official repairs.
I have no doubt there is talk about the level that is wished to be set for specific repairs together with the cost of new products.

The higher you can set the price of any repair, against the price of a new device, and get away with it, the better.
$1000 laptop/phone, bad screen etc, $600 repair? why not trade in and pay the extra as you are not THAT far away from a brand new item.

I could not believe this aspect is not considered in the overall plan.

 

[gnasher729]

They are not looking to push upgrades, but position the best use of money on the device. Headphone jack busted and battery used up on your iPhone 6? Consider an upgrade. The angle of this article makes it sound like a used car lot and techs are pushing a sale.

Apple will fix your iDevice - but when your repairs greatly exceed the value of the phone, it may be time to consider. Not everyone can jump into a new +/- $900 device and can be totally fine with a repaired iPhone no matter the age.

If my iPhone 6 needs a repair, I would actually expect Apple to tell me how much the repair is, and how much an iPhone 7 or iPhone 8 costs me, so I can make an informed decision. With all the numbers given, you can also check how much an iPhone costs you on eBay, which may be riskier but cheaper.

 

[KPandian1]

one word. liberal.

Yeah - take this to the political section.

 

[fredrik9]

This is why services, like iCloud, Apple Music etc. can provide Apple with money without alienting its customer base or sending mixed messages.

 

[dingle19]

Slow news day? Really turning nothing into something with this dumb article.

 

[gnasher729]

Warranty last for 1 year. If Tim is pushing users to upgrade when out of warranty, that means Tim expects loyal iPhone users to upgrade every year.

Nonsense. The warranty (in the USA) is one year. If iPhones on average broke down after 12 1/2 months, they wouldn't sell. Many people in the USA update after two years, but that's because of the ridiculous plans of the phone company where they keep charging the same money when your phone is paid after two years. In the UK, you pay your phone off over two years, and then you only pay for the service, so people keep their phones even longer.
[doublepost=1549708822][/doublepost]

Most dealerships don't suggest buying a new car rather than fixing your one year old car (or two years old with an extended warranty).

If you have a car that costs $20,000 new, and there is a $12,000 repair for your two year old car, they would suggest it.
[doublepost=1549709057][/doublepost]

This is a move for desperate retail stores on the verge of bankruptcy. Not a massive multinational making gobs of profit every quarter. Looking desperate does not garner confidence.

I'd say it's you looking desperate. Every reasonable company tries to improve sales. It's common sense, not "desperate".

 

[lcseds]

Program sounds fine to me as long as any out of warranty repair estimate is done in an ethical manner.

 

[RickDEGH]

Some of you guys are unbelievable!!! Which company doesn’t try strategies to make more money, if they’re a profit-making venture?! Keep saying they’re desperate while they keep raking in billions, while you come here to moan and go home with pennies!

 

[gnasher729]

Yes they will have to watch it in the UK, we have much stronger regulations and laws, fit for purpose is a great one. I can see this tactic of Apple leading to mid-selling if they aren’t careful, and that gets huge media attention and heafty fines. No doubt the technicians can earn extra money form their sales.

The technicians don't earn extra money from their sales. No employee in an Apple Store gets extra money for making sales. (We have had complaints from ex-Apple employees about that).

Because of better consumer laws (which will probably be reduced not too far after March) Apple will usually repair for two years for free in the UK, and then you have out of warranty repairs. It would be stupid and anti-consumer if Apple didn't advice of the cost of the out-of-warranty repair, and comparing it to the cost of a new iPhone. And of course we all know (but some people somehow forget to admit) that Apple sells a large range of phones, starting at £449. So media attention maybe (like this rubbish article here on MacRumors), but most certainly no fines.

 

[KPandian1]

Insert photo of customers lining up overnight and more to buy latest iPhone, and Genius Bar clad reps lining up over one customer to sell an iPhone.

 

[gnasher729]

Program sounds fine to me as long as any out of warranty repair estimate is done in an ethical manner.

There is no "repair estimate". An out-of-warranty repair consists of someone taking your phone, going to the back of the store and getting a new, working phone, and handing it over to you. It's fixed price. (There are also fixed prices for replacing the battery, and for replacing the screen). Your device is sent back to China and repaired their, or just the working parts being removed and reused.

 

[Wanted797]

I upgraded to an iPhone XR from a 7 Plus, only because my cell phone provider had a Black Friday deal ... $100 for an iPhone XR 256GB, 2 yr contract with unlimited SMS/Multimedia Texts, Unlimited minutes across country, 10GB data a month all for $120/month (plus 5% sales tax). Considering my employer pays for my monthly plan, and all I have to pay is the device cost, it was a pretty easy decision.

New plan was $5/month cheaper than the old plan too (which was the same, except only 3GB/month.) (That’s what plans in Canada are like, to put it into perspective to anybody that’s curious.)

Wow that’s not a great deal by Australian standards. I just looked up the 256GB XR on the most expensive company here is $124 (AUD) with 20GB. And extra $5 gets you 50GB!

 

[gnasher729]

No it says out of warranty devices. It does not say anything about repair.

And MacRumors is well-known for always using the exact correct words.
[doublepost=1549710765][/doublepost]

iPhone starts at around $750, that is not cheap by any means. It should do more than the competition. It should be fast and fluid (which it does)

iPhone starts at US$449. If you are using different dollars then you should say so.
[doublepost=1549710852][/doublepost]

I’m not a fan of the price increases over the last two years, but this shouldn’t be a big deal at all. You mean for once their sale staff actually had to try to sell a device? Shame on you Apple.

If you look at the prices, they have actually dropped. And then Apple has added some expensive phones to their range, but for all existing phones, prices have dropped.
[doublepost=1549711211][/doublepost]

There is no situation where an out-of-warranty repair is more expensive than a new device.

Replacing a destroyed iPhone 8 Plus costs $399. The cheapest new iPhone is the 7 at $449.

And that's what the repair person should tell you. Now I don't think many people would go from 8+ to 7 (unless they either hated the big screen, or have serious financial problems), but you should know that you have a choice between paying $399 for an out-of-warranty repair, or $699 for a brand new 8+. And then the customer has the information they need to make an informed decision.
[doublepost=1549711314][/doublepost]

“Sir...please buy i....”

(Shotgun clicked)

“I meant to say i love you sir.”

What kind of person finds it funny to get charged with assault?
[doublepost=1549711524][/doublepost]

You're probably in that group that also says this:

"What Apple isn't selling new phones to people every 12 months? Oh no they're failing, no one wants Apple products anymore."

There are people saying that, of course. I think there was some statistics that the percentage of customers buying a new iPhone every 12 months was about 2% some years ago.

 

[ChrisChaval]

they tried to upsell when I stopped by an Apple Store in December last year just to have the battery of my iPhone SE replaced

nothing overly aggressive though

we chatted a bit and that was it

 

[magicschoolbus]

Uhhh they’re in the minority. I’m sure they lost people, but not an overwhelming amount.

Do they really think their faces are being stored on Apple’s servers? What would Apple even do with them?

There are a million other things that your friends should be worried about in this life. ALSO, Face ID isn’t mandatory... Lol.

I know this, but to a person that does not understand how it works... their first thought is it’s in the cloud like everything else

 

[borntrouble]

Oh lord, Apple is seriously trying to sell iPhones?? What is wrong with em

 

[Tsuchiya]

The title of the thread makes this seem more insidious than it actually is. Apple isn't denying customer repairs or overstating repairs to push newer sales. They're just positioning the fact that customers also have the option of trading in their defective or damaged devices against the cost of a newer device which can also be had on a monthly price plan (which is usually less upfront to pay and spread out).

Ultimately they're not aggressively pushing anything. They're just making more of a point to advertise what's already on their store signage. The big difference here is simply that the Genius Bar is starting to actively bring up trade in options whereas before they probably wouldn't bother. The customer is ultimately the one to choose what they want to do, and they can easily still have their current device serviced without fuss.

 

[pat500000]

And MacRumors is well-known for always using the exact correct words.
[doublepost=1549710765][/doublepost]
iPhone starts at US$449. If you are using different dollars then you should say so.
[doublepost=1549710852][/doublepost]
If you look at the prices, they have actually dropped. And then Apple has added some expensive phones to their range, but for all existing phones, prices have dropped.
[doublepost=1549711211][/doublepost]

And that's what the repair person should tell you. Now I don't think many people would go from 8+ to 7 (unless they either hated the big screen, or have serious financial problems), but you should know that you have a choice between paying $399 for an out-of-warranty repair, or $699 for a brand new 8+. And then the customer has the information they need to make an informed decision.
[doublepost=1549711314][/doublepost]

What kind of person finds it funny to get charged with assault?
[doublepost=1549711524][/doublepost]

There are people saying that, of course. I think there was some statistics that the percentage of customers buying a new iPhone every 12 months was about 2% some years ago.

Someone who doesnt take apple seriously. Looks like apple is your savior, eh?

 

[BuffaloTF]

I'm glad too see most people know what the term 'push' means in sales and marketing. Yeah, no s___ they're offering you options, in their showroom. That's like taking a car with a bad transmission right back to the dealers for it to be rebuilt. What do you think they're going to do when you're faced with a repair that costly?

 

[apolloa]

There were no intentionally "forced" upgrades. It was just a series of poor decisions trying to retain a good experience for existing customers. It's not like Apple executives directed their teams to devise a way to slow down iPhones, and include that in an update without mentioning it. Their intentions were good, but the execution was poor. Spin it however you want, that doesn't change the facts.

Apple clearly learned from that experience, since the XR is a BEAST of a phone with great battery life!

Thankfully regulators and governments don’t drink the same koolaide, one fine or was it two down, one ongoing criminal investigation, and many other investigations still on going, all for batterygate, and that’s ignoring the court cases bought by the people.. unfortunetly for you, Apples ‘good intentions ’ broke consumer rules and laws.. and you seemed to have forgotten Apples own in house diagnostics tools consistently stated no batteries had any faults, which made people falsely buy new iPhones without needing to because their batteries were faulty but it was hidden by the iOS software..
In fact I have no doubt batterygate has cost them sales.

Anyway, back on topic, I’m not sure why some have linked this news to the women who left? I think Apple has always been pushing sales hard, certainly I have been bugged but over exuberant annoying sales staff in the stores, although never by the genius staff. But as I said here in the UK we have much tighter rules and regulations over misselling, because so many companies big and small have been fined and smeared for it.

 

[chrono1081]

Oh no! Apple tries to sell iPhones. I guess this writer has never stepped into a car dealership or ordinary mall retail store.

I too was wondering how this is even news. It's nice they're offering trade ins on electronics.

 

[cbr1976]

Last month, Apple lowered its revenue guidance for the first quarter of its 2019 fiscal year by up to $9 billion due to fewer iPhone upgrades than it anticipated, primarily due to economic weakness in the Greater China region.

A few months prior to the announcement, Apple began heavily promoting iPhone XR and iPhone XS trade-ins with a limited time promotion, prominent banner on its website, emails to older iPhone users, store signage, App Store editorials, and other uncharacteristically aggressive tactics aimed at boosting sales.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously reported that Apple reassigned some of its marketing staff to focus on bolstering sales of its latest iPhone lineup in late October, around the time the iPhone XR launched. The report cited an unnamed source who described the efforts as a "fire drill."

In a report this week about Deirdre O'Brien succeeding Angela Ahrendts as Apple's retail chief, Gurman elaborated a bit more on Apple's tactics to promote its latest iPhones, claiming that the company advised its technicians to "push iPhone upgrades to consumers with out-of-warranty devices."

Senior retail staff were also tasked with making sure other employees were suggesting upgrades, according to Gurman:We presume this refers to Genius Bar technicians at Apple Stores, but there is also a network of Apple Authorized Service Providers, some of which double as authorized resellers that offer the latest Apple products for sale.

It's unclear if the tactics had any influence on Ahrendts stepping down from her position. Unlike her short-lived predecessor John Browett, who reportedly pushed Apple retail employees to aggressively upsell products, Ahrendts focused on the experience with free Today at Apple creativity sessions and more.

Last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook admitted that "customers are holding on to their older iPhones a bit longer than in the past." In a letter to shareholders, Cook said Apple is undertaking and accelerating initiatives to improve its results, such as making it simple to trade in a phone at its stores.

Apple's reported efforts to push iPhone upgrades creates an interesting juxtaposition. On one hand, the company's environmental chief Lisa Jackson recently said customers using its devices longer "is the best thing for the planet," and on the other hand it is more aggressively encouraging customers to buy a new iPhone.

Skip to 1:23:51 mark for Lisa Jackson's comments​

Whether the tactics are effective will be harder to gauge going forward, as Apple no longer discloses unit sales in its quarterly earnings report. Apple forecasted revenue between $55 billion and $59 billion in the current quarter, which would be down from $61.1 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Article Link: Apple Reportedly Advised Technicians to Push iPhone Upgrades to Customers With Out-of-Warranty Devices

Wow ! I thought Apple was a business. Who knew ? (I am a shareholder).

 

[The Game 161]

Well it is a business...