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Apple Reportedly Planning to Wind Down 'iPhone Upgrade Program'

This is a bummer, but I kind of get it. I definitely need AppleCare (maybe 1 in every three phones needed replacement due to a cracked screen or whatever) and it made financial sense that if I was going to upgrade every two years, the iPhone Upgrade program was basically the price of getting a new phone every two years only you had the newest one every year! But... more recently the upgrades became more minor. It was a real bummer to go through the whole upgrade and admit to yourself you barely noticed the year over year change. So I got off the train with the iPhone 13 mini and kept it for four years!

The rumored replacement program seems a plus in that its designed with a 2 year interval rather than 1, but lacking apple care would be a dealbreaker for me.
 
FreakinEurekan said:
More like too much of a PITA when the iPhone isn't released exactly a year later... which is rumored to be the case with the Fold.
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There have been multiple cases of this taking place that did not ever seem to have an effect on iUP viability or loyalty. The iPhone 7 -> split 8/X launch, X -> split XS/XR launch, and the iPhone 12 series split launch are all examples.

More than likely some contract was up for renewal or renegotiation between Apple and Citizens and the former decided to move in a different direction. I love the iPhone upgrade program but can understand how the Citizens backend might no longer be the most tech-forward or user friendly options. Best Buy recently dropped their Upgrade+ thing with Citizens in favor of their cobranded credit card and app-based pay-later solutions, which are already more ubiquitous among today's consumers.
 
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walnuts said:
This is a bummer, but I kind of get it. I definitely need AppleCare (maybe 1 in every three phones needed replacement due to a cracked screen or whatever) and it made financial sense that if I was going to upgrade every two years, the iPhone Upgrade program was basically the price of getting a new phone every two years only you had the newest one every year! But... more recently the upgrades became more minor. It was a real bummer to go through the whole upgrade and admit to yourself you barely noticed the year over year change. So I got off the train with the iPhone 13 mini and kept it for four years!

The rumored replacement program seems a plus in that its designed with a 2 year interval rather than 1, but lacking apple care would be a dealbreaker for me.
Click to expand...
You can still buy AppleCare, you're just not forced to like you were on the old program.
 
walnuts said:
This is a bummer, but I kind of get it. I definitely need AppleCare (maybe 1 in every three phones needed replacement due to a cracked screen or whatever) and it made financial sense that if I was going to upgrade every two years, the iPhone Upgrade program was basically the price of getting a new phone every two years only you had the newest one every year! But... more recently the upgrades became more minor. It was a real bummer to go through the whole upgrade and admit to yourself you barely noticed the year over year change. So I got off the train with the iPhone 13 mini and kept it for four years!

The rumored replacement program seems a plus in that its designed with a 2 year interval rather than 1, but lacking apple care would be a dealbreaker for me.
Click to expand...
You are not loosing it, you purchase it saperetely for exactly the same amount, it is just not mandatory included

Also, you can use Apple Care One if you have more than 2 devices to cover and save a lot on Apple Care+
 
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One good thing with the rather tired times we are currently living in, is my enthusiasm for electronics is getting strangled, which is a very good thing for my wallet over all.
 
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Best news I’ve seen about this so far is Klarna may switch to soft credit pulls each year instead of Citizen’s, “hard pull” each year, with each upgrade. The hard pulls caused me to leave the program so fingers crossed
 
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Talk about competing headlines!!!


Apple_1.jpg
 
It's not a hard pull every year with iPhone Upgrade Program - I'm sure it was upon initial application, but I've been on it for years w/o hard pull.
Cactusflower said:
Best news I’ve seen about this so far is Klarna may switch to soft credit pulls each year instead of Citizen’s, “hard pull” each year, with each upgrade. The hard pulls caused me to leave the program so fingers crossed
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Apple had already moved to close down the UK iPhone Upgrade Programme (https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/iphone/iphone-upgrade-program), but it was a lesser programme to begin with as you always had to visit a store in person to upgrade (essentially because the financing arrangement – which effectively began anew every time you upgraded your iPhone – seemingly hadn't had the functionality baked in to allow the 'paperwork' to be completed online).
 
orbital~debris said:
Apple had already moved to close down the UK iPhone Upgrade Programme (https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/iphone/iphone-upgrade-program), but it was a lesser programme to begin with as you always had to visit a store in person to upgrade (essentially because the financing arrangement – which effectively began anew every time you upgraded your iPhone – seemingly hadn't had the functionality baked in to allow the 'paperwork' to be completed online).
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essentially it is same in US and makes total sense because when you upgrade you pick another phone which may cost another money and have different monthly payment
 
I’ve done IUP since it was released for my wife and I.

But if Apple is going to make that difficult by increasing barrier for entry or charge interest, then I am out and will just start wearing out our current devices rather than upgrade yearly.

The only reason why I did IUP is because Apple made it easy. If they screw this up, kiss my easy money goodbye.
 
This is pretty silly if you ask me…unless they keep the upgrade path super easy and seamless… I actually emailed Tim Cook the second year of the upgrade program and offered the suggestion to have them send out kits to get the old phone back just like they do with the express repair program. Even got a call back to get the details of what I was suggesting and then it became a reality the next year. Being able to pre-order early and then send your phone back to Apple along with the AppleCare of the real benefits of that program and I hope they don’t go away.
 
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