Apple Watch ultra and apple care +

[wilberforce]

I am a numbers person, and every time I run the numbers AC+ just doesn't make financial sense (except for Apple's accountants).

Some people say they get AC+ for AirPods or a watch because they can't afford to replace it. My thought is that if one cannot afford to replace a $800 watch one is living pretty close to the bone, and maybe should not get an $800 watch in the first place: it is not exactly a necessity. It sound like one is essentially paying even more for the watch (by adding on AC+) because one can barely afford it.

Things that people need much more, but really cannot afford to replace, are a house, a car, future income from a spouse's life lost, assets relinquished from a liability lawsuit. These are things where insurance is really valuable, almost a necessity, as the loss would be financially catastrophic. Loss of a watch is not financially catastrophic.

One situation where AC+ possibly makes sense is if one has a particularly higher risk than average. Such as an iPad used by a kid, things like that.

However, of course, people can do as they please, and spend money on whatever they want if it make them feel good (or even if it does not make them feel good.) However, I have difficulty agreeing that AC+ makes financial sense.

 

[BenGoren]

If you can afford to self-insure, in the long run you’re all but guaranteed to come out with more money left in your pocket.

If you can afford to buy good insurance (and AppleCare+ is about as good as it gets in today’s market), you’re all but guaranteed to have a much less unpleasant experience with far less stress when something inevitably goes awry.

If you can’t afford either, then you can’t really afford whatever it is you’re considering buying.

Me?

I really like the service that AppleCare+ provides. A certain idjit (raises hand) left his beloved iPhone XS in his jeans pocket when he loaded it into the washing machine last week. Alas, the poor thing is pining for the fjords. I had no other reasonable option than to spend money I really, really didn’t want to spend on a 13 mini (which I’m incidentally loving). But the one non-negotiable feature of any new phone I was going to buy was ongoing AppleCare+ with theft and loss protection.

Didn’t even get a screen protector or a case. Why should I spend $45 on a screen protector when a screen repair is $30 with AppleCare+?

Sure, I could buy a lot of screen protectors over the life of the phone for the $11 / month I’m spending on AppleCare+. But how do I know that the only bad thing that’s ever going to happen to the phone is a cracked screen?

So I’m spending money on AppleCare+ so I don’t have to worry about what stupid thing I might do next with the phone, or panic when I actually do something stupid.

Maybe that’s not a service you care about, but it’s a luxury I really, really appreciate.

Much the same can be said for soooooo much else in our lives. Cars … you can do an oil change for a fraction of what a mechanic will charge (let alone the dealer), and you can wash it yourself basically for free. Yet I haven’t done an oil change, myself, in at least a decade, and I’ve got unlimited drive-thru carwash stickers on the windshields of two cars. (Both electric, so no oil change … but they’re not the only cars in the family.)

Money is important. But it’s just as important to spend money as it is to save it. Your job is in finding where that balance lies for you.

(And, lest you think me a reckless spendthrift … I prepare at least 80% of the meals I and my wife eat, and she prepares the majority of the remainder; we almost never eat out or do takeout or eat pre-prepared meals. That’s an example of where my own balance lies; yours is guaranteed to be different.)

b&

 

[wilberforce]

Maybe that’s not a service you care about, but it’s a luxury I really, really appreciate.

Sure, if AC+ feels like a luxury that is worth it to you.

I guess I do not feel the same way. I do have AC+ on a few Apple things (e.g., an iMac, and my wife's iPad), and what I feel is regret, not happiness. Regret at having wasted the money on AC+. It does not feel like a luxury to me at all.

 

[M33-1]

Just wondering how many folks opted to get AppleCare + for the ultra?

Is it even needed or worth it?

Because I plan on using it in water, for sure. I’ve signed up. Don’t want to take the chance of having a water issue outside of standard warranty.

 

[bruinsrme]

I'm sure Apple accountants are just as happy every time someone gets AC... They make a killing on it because most of the time its unnecessary. If it wasn't financially beneficial to Apple they wouldn't offer it. They count on the folks who just feel better physiologically having it. It's a cash cow for them.

no doubt.

 

[stanza.richi]

AC+ is an insurance and as all insurance you blame to pay it when you don’t need it and you may blame to hadn’t pay it when you need it for a shutter glass or back.

In my opinion for Apple Watch, AC+ worth it: a shattered screen is something that is possible and has an expensive fee to pay.

 

[The Game 161]

I think if you plan to keep it for a while maybe so. I will upgrade every year so tend to not bother but given the price isn't awful it would make more sense than say for the phone.