The current price of SquareTrade is $129 for 2 years. And you can pay $30 more for a 3rd year. I believe pro-rated refunds are based on the total cost not the cost for each year, so if you cancel after 1 year you'll get ~$106 back. That's only ~$53 for 1 year of coverage. The $29 deductible vs. $99 for screen repairs is still in favor of AC+, though.
Still a tough choice.
Ah looked at their homepage but see the $129 now.
I highly doubt most people care about a 3rd year either or keep their phones near that long; I would guess half upgrade yearly since the installments make it so easy these days. I trade up yearly. I would say that's a negligible factor though for many.
From what I can find, both Squaretrade and Applecare do simple proration; the amount left on the plan you get back. Meaning after 12 months you get 50% of the total back from each as they're both 24 months. Squaretrade's policy (below) mentions a 10% per month cancellation fee, but its not very clear about the terms; another point that sounded wishy-washy to me.
Squaretrade's:
"If You cancel after the first thirty (30) days from purchase of this Protection Plan, You will receive a pro rata refund based on the time remaining on Your Protection Plan. No fees or past claims shall be deducted from the refund and the refund will be sent to You within ten (10) business days from the cancellation request or else a ten percent (10%) penalty per month shall be applied to the refund."
Apple's policy is a bit more clear on the terms, you get the prorated portion back minus the lesser of $25 of 10% of the refund (obviously 10% is lesser). So even if with Squaretrade there is no 10% fee, it's still only all of a few dollar difference we're talking here.
Assuming trading up after 1 year (if you didn't transfer your Squaretrade to the new device for argument's sake), Apple you pay $199 and get $89.55 back and Squaretrade you pay $129 and get $64.50 back (assuming no cancellation fee); you're talking a $25 difference after 1 year of coverage.
The huge money part (at least for me) is that no one wants some nobody "mobile tech" messing with their $1,000 iphone for a $25 deductible with Squaretrade; bye-bye Apple warranty at that point.
So if you want to bring it to the Apple store to get a proper repair, you have to front the full price Genius Bar repair money by the Squaretrade terms; meaning pony up $279 for the screen and a whopping $550 for the back glass to Apple and then get paid back by Squaretrade and some point.
Do I have the money, sure. Do I want to be fronting potentially $280 to $550 to hope to get paid back by insurance, no way. I just dropped $1,000 on the phone.
Bought Applecare. Walk in, phone fixed, walk out only paying the deductible ($29/99). YMMV, but that's worth the extra few bucks per year to me not fronting hundreds of dollars and dealing with insurance policy payouts.
And if you are someone who keeps it over 1 year, Applecare covers manufacturer defects for 2 years not just 1. No deductible on those.