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Apple's 2026 Back to School Offer Expected to Begin by Next Week

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Apple's annual Back to School promotion will return by next week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Last year, college students and educational staff could receive a free accessory like AirPods 4 or an Apple Pencil Pro with the purchase of a qualifying Mac or iPad model. It is unclear what Apple plans to offer this year, but given the company has just raised prices on all Macs and iPads, this year's Back to School promotion will be rather bittersweet.

Article Link: Apple's 2026 Back to School Offer Expected to Begin by Next Week
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/06/25/apple-2026-back-to-school-offer-when/
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Unfortunately this is what I always feared entering the Apple realm back in 2019. Apple would spike prices or my financial situation would change and I’d be either priced out or priced painfully but have all my data and work stuck in Apple ecosystem. I kept one foot out. Now head we are. The issue isn’t just the initial upfront cost. If you could afford a mbp6 base before you may still be able to afford it but can you afford to replace it? Bc everything is soldered on you can’t repair much of it so any break and you are out $3k minimum.

As it is I’m likely going to pursue a hybrid of things and not Apple. I’ll use the saving to buy battery packs I guess. 💀. This makes me sad. I love the MacBook but I’m not going to keep spending on them.
 
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"Back to school" prices are set so far behind by the price increases that even after education savings, it costs more than the regular price was 5 hours ago.
 
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Delivered said:
Unfortunately this is what I always feared entering the Apple realm back in 2019. Apple would spike prices or my financial situation would change and I’d be either priced out or priced painfully but have all my data and work stuck in Apple ecosystem. I kept one foot out. Now head we are. The issue isn’t just the initial upfront cost. If you could afford a mbp6 base before you may still be able to afford it but can you afford to replace it? Bc everything is soldered on you can’t repair much of it so any break and you are out $3k minimum.

As it is I’m likely going to pursue a hybrid of things and not Apple. I’ll use the saving to buy battery packs I guess. 💀. This makes me sad. I love the MacBook but I’m not going to keep spending on them.
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I’m not sure what you were getting at here, prices have increased across the board, not just Apple.
Also, your scenario of a MacBook Pro breaking has always been the case, that’s why Apple care exists. At the end of the day, if you buy a machine for thousands and thousands of dollars, which the MacBook Pro has always been, if it breaks and you have no insurance, you are out thousands and thousands of dollars.
Even back in 2019 you could easily spec a MacBook Pro up to $7000, $8000.
 
Don't know if it will be some free accessory like last year or it will go back to the older gift card offer. If it is gift card, expecting it to be of lower value this year!
 
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thadoggfather said:
Kids will academically and tangibly learn the impact of AI, supply/demand, and inflation very early on.
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I think you actually have a good point here, it would be a good teaching lessons to kids. On how supply and demands work in the AI world, if I had a kid, I would be teaching my kid early on about computers and pricing and all that like my parents did for me
 
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Assuming Apple knows what they're doing, but to my untrained understanding, they have lost the concept of a loss leader to get people into the ecosystem. They should have the best inexpensive laptop on the market for college students, an absolute no brainer, so they can sell the graduate a MacBook Air or Pro, etc.
 
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Delivered said:
Unfortunately this is what I always feared entering the Apple realm back in 2019. Apple would spike prices or my financial situation would change and I’d be either priced out or priced painfully but have all my data and work stuck in Apple ecosystem.
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EVERYONE is raising prices. Dell just raised laptop prices 17% in March.

  • Dell XPS 14 (Base): Increased from $1,599.99 to $1,889.99 (a $290 jump).
  • Dell XPS 14 (OLED / 32GB / High-End): Increased from $2,200 to $2,900 at retailers like Best Buy.
  • Dell XPS 16: Jumped from $2,350 to roughly $2,950
  • 32GB RAM upgrades: Added $130 to $230 to the baseline device price.
  • 128GB RAM upgrades: Increased device costs by $520 to $765.
  • 1TB SSD: Added $55 to $135 to the base device.

Microsoft raised the price on the 2024 model of the 13.8-inch Surface Laptop from $1,200 to $1,500 — for a laptop and processor that are now two years old.

The PlayStation 5 increased by $100 back in April. The base version of the OLED Steam Deck went from $550 to $790, while the 1 TB configuration had a $300 increase.

Asus, Samsung, and Dell have all raised prices on their laptop lines this year, with price bumps ranging from $100 all the way up to $600. Samsung has also increased some of its phone prices, with $80 bumps on some of its folding models.
 
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Delivered said:
Unfortunately this is what I always feared entering the Apple realm back in 2019. Apple would spike prices or my financial situation would change and I’d be either priced out or priced painfully but have all my data and work stuck in Apple ecosystem. I kept one foot out. Now head we are. The issue isn’t just the initial upfront cost. If you could afford a mbp6 base before you may still be able to afford it but can you afford to replace it? Bc everything is soldered on you can’t repair much of it so any break and you are out $3k minimum.

As it is I’m likely going to pursue a hybrid of things and not Apple. I’ll use the saving to buy battery packs I guess. 💀. This makes me sad. I love the MacBook but I’m not going to keep spending on them.
Click to expand...
A couple of things. 1) you don’t have to upgrade every year just because new stuff comes out. I’m still rocking an M2 Pro Mac mini and have zero plans to buy a new machine in the future. At some time I will need to but I’m thinking I can get another 5 years easy.
2). Buy AppleCare +. I own it on all devices except Apple TV and HomePods. Super cheap on headphones and I pay $20/month to cover my iPhone pro, iPad Pro and Studio Display. My mini was covered for 3 years when I bought it during back to school and got 20% off AC+.
 
I am so upset. I was waiting for the back to school promo and now, here we are. Any discount or promo is going to be negated by the price increase. I wish they gave us a date of the price increases not just doing it over night.
 
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