iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Out-Of-Warranty Repairs Cost Up to $299/$329

[seventhedition]

With Applecare+ repairs have no deductible. With Squaretrade every use has a $75 deductible.

AppleCare + has a $79 deductible per claim if it is not a manufacturers defect. They will only fix a manufacturers defect without a deductible.

But apple will also fix any manufacturers defect on any phone for free for the first year regardless if you have AppleCare + or not. I would think that most problems with the phone not caused by accidental damage would happen in the first year.

applecare is only superior to square trade in terms of cost if you would have a manufacturers defect after the first year

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

It really depends on the individual user. With this apple care, you pay $99 + $79 ($178) to avoid paying $329 IF you drop it in the toilet or sink (or if it sustains water damage some other way). For me, the 6+ is my 5th iPhone and I have never cracked the screen or had water damage. I would have paid $400 in apple care for my past iPhones for nothing and it would be cheaper to pay out of pocket if needed repair. So for myself, who is a grown-up, uses a case, and is careful, it is a no-brainer NOT to get apple care.

On the other hand, my wife is a kid, and insists on using her iPhone caseless. She has cracked or water damaged 3 or 4 iPhones so it might make more sense to get apple care for her.

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Paying $99 (and an addition $79 if used) is hardly "minimal" for a potential max $329 payout.

You misunderstood my point. I said the cost of any insurance (be it $99 for AppleCare or $10/mo via carrier) IS minimal compared to the cost of phone service or even the fees that are added on to most people's bills (fees can be $8 or more per line per month).

Merely buying and using an iPhone 6 can cost over $3000 per year ($6000 for 2 years). $99 is a drop in the bucket comparatively.

 

[rdlink]

so that's $240 over the course your contract and $100 each replacement, no matter the reason. So lets say at 13 months in your speaker stops working. Not wet, not dropped, just takes a dump. You are out of warranty with Apple at this point so you go to ATT to use your insurance. Which to date has cost you $130 and now you have to pay $100 to get it replaced (they don't do repairs). That's $230.

But for that $99 for Apple Care you would have a two year warranty and it would have been repaired for free.

drop your phone in the pool and it would $100 with ATT but $79 with Apple. And the carrier insurance programs offer no vetting of the quality of the item you get, unlike Apple. Heck for the first 3 months or so you can basically guarantee that an Apple replacement is a new phone same as the retail ones cause any returned phones go to EFFA testing and wouldn't be torn apart and 'reconditioned' so quickly. The carriers on the other hand just toss whatever at you. sometimes the old users data isn't even erased

All this is true. But the one wildcard the carrier insurance has is theft/loss. A friend of mine left his iPhone in a restaurant restroom, and spent two days on and off the phone with the person who "found" it, trying to coordinate its return. Then the other party went radio silent. So my friend was able to get a new phone from VZW for the price of the deductible.

As far as AppleCare+ is concerned, I still buy it. Although I am starting to give it some thought. I never have needed to cash in on the accidental damage claim part, but I have had warranty repair/replacements outside of the first year. When they went up to $80 per incident it became less of a deal. At $60 per incident it was a little easier to justify.

As someone said earlier, you just never know when an accident will happen. A co-worker bought the iPhone 5 on the day it came out and didn't buy AppleCare. She dropped it later that afternoon, breaking the screen. She was able to work a deal where they replaced it for her if she bought AppleCare, and used one of her incidents. So she got the replacement for $160, and then had a two year warranty. Nice move on the Apple Store's part.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

You pretty much have to factor the cost of AppleCare into your Apple purchase decisions.

Not me. I've owned 4 iPhones before my i6 and never had any insurance or ext warranty. Never needed one either. I self insure and its paid off since 2007.

 

[ryanasimov]

I see the cost benefits of Square Trade, but what about downtime? With AppleCare+ you can take your broken iPhone into an Apple Store and pretty much be assured you'll walk out with a working phone. Does square trade cover costs after the fact if you go to an Apple Store, or do you have to ship it somewhere?

 

[groovyd]

i think the only time insurance is worth it for a product is when it covers shipping and the product is expensive to ship or very difficult to find replacement parts for. for example i have insurance from Square Trade on my massage chair but not my apple products. if that broke once in the next 3 years for any reason the shipping alone covers the insurance cost.

 

[gnasher729]

I wonder if the 6 & 6 Plus is harder to open and they might have to do battery & screen replacements as an exchange instead of repair?

Definitely not. One, iFixit says they are easier to open. Two, anything is easy to open if you know what you're doing and have the right tools.

 

[tito2020]

Good info! I'm happy they are offering theApple care because if I drop my iPhone 6+ I'll have to murder a panda!

What happens if you never drop your phone and apple care expires there goes your money

 

[gnasher729]

I agree the consumer ALWAYS loose when it comes to extended warranty. It's like you go to a casino playing slots and expect to win. Rarely happens.

Digital video recorder. Quite common in the UK. My first one broke down after two years - it had to, because it drew 23 Watts and the power supply was designed for a max of 24 Watts (fixed it myself by buying a 60 Watt power supply). From then on I bought them with extended warranty. The next one broke down after two years, got a much better model for free and they gave me an extended warranty for free! Next one broke down after two years, got a much better model for free! Unfortunately the current one has lasted for three years, so my cunning plan of getting a life time supply of free DVRs has now failed. The next one I'll have to pay for myself.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

You misunderstood my point. I said the cost of any insurance (be it $99 for AppleCare or $10/mo via carrier) IS minimal compared to the cost of phone service or even the fees that are added on to most people's bills (fees can be $8 or more per line per month).

Merely buying and using an iPhone 6 can cost over $3000 per year ($6000 for 2 years). $99 is a drop in the bucket comparatively.

But it's not $99. It's $99 + $79 per incident. So if you have one incident your out of pocket cost is $177. If you have two it's $256.

If you don't buy AppleCare your out of pocket is $299 per incident. So the savings from AppleCare IF you have one accidental damage claim is $122, and $342 if you have two claims.

Seems to me there is no pay off unless you are an absolute klutz. But if that is the case a $49 Otterbox case fixes that issue.

This is an old article, but still relevant even if the prices are old: http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/why_you_still_shouldnt_care_about_applecare

 

[charlituna]

No price drop for replacement service on a 5s, 5c, 5, 4s, or 4 even though they are all now a year older and now worth $100 less?

but they don't suddenly cost less to make. If anything they might cost more since Apple is only making them for service parts and reusing many parts so they are only ordering a fraction (perhaps a quarter or less) of the bulk orders they used to do, losing any volume discounts.

the $100 drop is actually Apple eating into their profit to get rid of as many phones as possible into the hands of consumers that will hopefully buy more Apple stuff.

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Doesn't it seem like they are lowering the value of Apple care slightly with such cheap glass replacement costs? I guess on the other hand if you completely wreck your phone or give it a bath, you'd be out $849 without apple care? (for the 64gb 6+)

Not really since you are still getting a discount on even just a screen and you are getting an extra year of defect.

The lowered screen cost is likely to try to get folks to stop taking their phones to 3rd party shops that put on a cheap ass nasty screen, jack up the inside and then when it fails some poor Apple staffer like my BF has to tell the user they can't even pay to get Apple to service it. A term they agreed to when they got the phone and again with Apple Care.

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That's even worse lol. I am seeing less and less point in getting Apple care instead if just paying $129 for that accidental drop, cracked screen repair. Which may not even happen of course.

drop your phone in the sink and have it drenched and not turning on. Have it decide to have a button failure at 14 months or go into a continuous panic reboot loop at 16 months. And you aren't on one of those "Next" type programs. When they hit you with a bill for $299/$329 because you have no warranty you'll see the point

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The store I went to did not do iPhone 5s screen repairs at all last month.

Must be something store specific because my BFs store and every store he knows of has been doing 5S screen repairs for a good six months. And they have been alerted that they should have the gear for doing the 6/6+ in about a month (basically when the bulk of the EFFA is over)

And they don't list any part repairs on the website because they don't want folks trying to force an appropriate repair on a staffer. Yeah YOU might think that its just the speaker and think you should only have to pay $59 or whatever it is but the tech is saying no it's your phones logic board and that's a full replacement. Which then leads to some jerk yelling, demanding a manager and to get a full replacement at the speaker price, blah blah. Or at least that's what my BF deals with at least twice a day in uber entitlement LA.

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Extended warranties, especially Applecare with its $79 deductible are almost never worth it.

if you are flipping your mobile devices on eBay etc then having Apple Care can get you more money. Because the person knows they have a warranty if there is a defect. After all, who wants to pay $200-250 for a used phone then have it go down and have to pay that all over again. No one. Better to pay $300 for a used phone that has 10 months of warranty left

 

[Hawaga]

No need for that

 

[charlituna]

Yes, but they won't repair the dent.

yes and no. Depends on the dent. If the dent is deep enough that a display won't seat then you don't get a display replacement. You would have to do a full unit at the higher cost.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

yes and no. Depends on the dent. If the dent is deep enough that a display won't seat then you don't get a display replacement. You would have to do a full unit at the higher cost.

Yes, that is correct. Most dents are considered "normal wear and tear" and do not affect the display.

 

[charlituna]

I'm very happy to see they added a separate option for a screen replacement only! I don't think this was a thing a few weeks ago. I think you had to pay the full price of an out of warranty replacement even if it was just the screen. So this is much more reasonable.

Nope. They were doing iPhone 5, 5c and 5S screens about six months after each came out. Only the 4 and 4S require a full unit for front glass damage because everything is attached to the front so they would have to disassemble the whole phone and they won't let in store staff doing something like that.

As for the pricing on the 6s. I suspect, and will try to verify, that the reason is that the glass and the active bits maybe two units. They are not in the 5 series. in those its the glass, screen, receiver, home button, etc all in one. But often when you break the screen you only break the glass. So there is something to be said in just replacing the glass and not the bits. That might be how these are set up. If you manage to break both the glass and one of the bits that would require two repairs, though likely with Apple Care still a 'flat rate' of the $79. But OOW it might be $109 for the glass and up to another $99 for whatever other part you need (that would likely be the actual active part of the screen with everything else some amount below that)

 

[Dionte]

I'm going to get Apple care plus for my iPhone 6 plus today.

 

[charlituna]

I've had AppleCare only once, on a 27" iMac. I remember it was simply an extended warranty. No charge on repairs for three years.

Of course iOS devices are different, there is accidental damage that doesn't usually occur with iMacs.

What I don't understand is that it's $99 for AppleCare AND $79 per repair? A total of $178 for the first repair.

Yep. Without that Apple Care you would be looking at anything from $199 (for a 4s) to $329 (for a 6 plus) for a full unit replacement. a 'modular' repair could run you anything from $29 for a 4/4s back plate to $149 for a screen replacement on a 5 series phone.

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So, about the $6.95 shipping fee.. Do they ship it to a service center to be repaired?

yes but that's only when done via self service or phone support. After the EFFA period (which is a good month to two months on some issues) many repairs will be done in store so no shipping required. worse case you will be without your phone over night, rather than 3-4 days

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I agree the consumer ALWAYS loose when it comes to extended warranty.

no they don't always lose. There are times when an extended warranty actually pays off. Even these damage policies pay off. My BF just a couple of weeks ago was laughing about a guy that came in with two busted iPads and a busted and drenched iPhone. All of them actually less than a year old. He's got 4 kids and 3 dogs, things happen. No Apple Care because "those things are never worth it".

The guy has to buy his phones full price cause Verizon won't let him keep his unlimited data otherwise. So that's $849 for a 64GB if he goes retail. $829 and $599 for the iPads if he wants to match what he had before.

OOW those would be $269, $299 and $299. With Apple Care it would be $99 (to have signed up) and $79, $49, $9

You do the math. Sure he is an outlier in a sense but even one outlier makes ALWAYS a lie

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Nope, Applecare+ has a service fee of $79 for each incident (up to 2).

http://store.apple.com/us/product/S4575LL/A/applecare-for-iphone

-Kevin

but only for damage. if it is a legit defect there is no fee. Unlike with ST where there is a fee, period.

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I would think that most problems with the phone not caused by accidental damage would happen in the first year.

You would think, but it isn't true. Speakers burn out, phones go into reboot loops, all kinds of things can happen after a year. Although my BF says they suspect that in many cases it is damage not defect. Like say a phone gets splashed on and the water happens to go into the speaker. But none of it got into the connector where there is a liquid indicator so they can't prove it was damage and thus assume it wasn't and cover it.

 

[proline]

Not me. I've owned 4 iPhones before my i6 and never had any insurance or ext warranty. Never needed one either. I self insure and its paid off since 2007.

You need to factor what you spend on cases / screen protectors as well. People who buy the warranty have no need for such things and can enjoy their devices as they were designed. Even the clearest screen protectors visibly blur and alter the screen colors, which even the lightest cases add bulk and weight. Not having a warranty also does a number on the resale value.

 

[charlituna]

All this is true. But the one wildcard the carrier insurance has is theft/loss.

which is often also covered by things like renter's insurance and can be way cheaper AND you know the quality of the item you are getting because you go and buy an new retail phone and they reimburse you at least a portion of that money. Rather than your carrier handing you whatever piece of crap they find.

Folks don't think about such policies and they can be way better. My policy is $199 a year and covers my computer, my tv etc and my cell phone. And my particular policy pays up to $300 of the replacement costs if my phone is stolen. Even if its not in my apartment at the time. Okay so sure that means I'm still likely out another $300 cause I'd have to buy full price but it's worth it to know that I'm not getting a phone such jackass jacked up and then traded in at the carrier

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Definitely not. One, iFixit says they are easier to open. Two, anything is easy to open if you know what you're doing and have the right tools.

Yep. And apple definitely has the right tools. For the first few weeks they will do full unit for EFFA but they charge the component price if there is a price at all to make up for it.

Now they just need to get the iPads to a repairable state.

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What happens if you never drop your phone and apple care expires there goes your money

The same could be said about car insurance. I buy it every year but I've never had a car accident in ten years of driving. I've had renters insurance for ten years but never a theft or major issue that damaged my stuff. There goes my money on those.

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I'm going to get Apple care plus for my iPhone 6 plus today.

I get it, even though I rarely drop my stuff and I am uber careful about liquids.

Frankly I consider it a personal decision. Get it (or any insurance) if you feel it is the right thing for you. If someone else thinks it's a waste they can not get it for their stuff. And shut the freak up about me getting it.

 

[akakillroy]

I've saved myself over $1000. Applecare is not worth it!
Apple products are exceptionally well built.

I agree with you to a point, however in my opinion its like not buying instance for your house or car. Do you drive a car without insurance, you just don;t know what "could" happen. For me is cheep insurance to have, its a no brainer. Then I don't have to think "No what do I do now that my primary communicating device is dead" ;-) But at the same time, well done on saving $1000!

 

[pheenix11]

Does this apply if you buy the iPhone through AT&T instead of directly through Apple?

 

[tito2020]

which is often also covered by things like renter's insurance and can be way cheaper AND you know the quality of the item you are getting because you go and buy an new retail phone and they reimburse you at least a portion of that money. Rather than your carrier handing you whatever piece of crap they find.

Folks don't think about such policies and they can be way better. My policy is $199 a year and covers my computer, my tv etc and my cell phone. And my particular policy pays up to $300 of the replacement costs if my phone is stolen. Even if its not in my apartment at the time. Okay so sure that means I'm still likely out another $300 cause I'd have to buy full price but it's worth it to know that I'm not getting a phone such jackass jacked up and then traded in at the carrier

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Yep. And apple definitely has the right tools. For the first few weeks they will do full unit for EFFA but they charge the component price if there is a price at all to make up for it.

Now they just need to get the iPads to a repairable state.

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The same could be said about car insurance. I buy it every year but I've never had a car accident in ten years of driving. I've had renters insurance for ten years but never a theft or major issue that damaged my stuff. There goes my money on those.

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I get it, even though I rarely drop my stuff and I am uber careful about liquids.

Frankly I consider it a personal decision. Get it (or any insurance) if you feel it is the right thing for you. If someone else thinks it's a waste they can not get it for their stuff. And shut the freak up about me getting it.

Yeah that's worth it but for a phone I don't think so

 

[Jovian9]

Is it me or does SquareTrade actually seem worse than AppleCare if you want 2-years of coverage?

Apple:
$99 APP+
$79 per incident of damage over 2 years - up to 2 incidents total
Free repairs for any hardware failures (not damage by the customer) for up to 2 years (unlimited)


SquareTrade:
$99 Coverage
$75 per incident for 2 years (think the limit is 4)

*BUT* - if you do not have the extended Apple warranty all hardware failures after the first year will go down as incidents under SquareTrade. That means if the home button stops working, or a speaker goes out you are paying the $75 deductible just like you do when you break it.

The only advantage to SquareTrade would be if a hardware issue doesn't happen in the second year and you break your phone 3x or more during the 2 years you own it.

 

[kenroberts83]

Not sure I follow your math. The cost of an iPhone 6 is (minimally) $699. If you buy under contract, you can't change phones every year. Plus, most plans contract price for service is higher than the cost of the same service plan out of contract. ATT for instance, is $40/mo under contract for service (per line) and $15 not under contract. That's an extra $25/mo for a contract phone. So $200 for a contract phone, plus $300 "premium" for service, your first year you've paid $500 for that phone. Break the phone in the first year, the ETF are more than $200 for most carriers I've seen, so now that phone has cost $700+. At that point you can get a new phone, but $700 isn't $250.

Some of your numbers are off. AT&T charges $25/month for an off-contract line, unless you're one of the few on a 10GB+ share plan. Additionally, an off-contract phone costs $649 at a minimum, not $700. Also, you can upgrade every year with an on-contract phone, you just have to pay the $250 (approximate) service cancellation fee. If your previous model is still working, you will receive around $250-$350 trade-in or resale value for it.

So lets analyze the cost value of the carrier and Applecare+ replacement plans.

Initial cost Applecare+ = $99
Cost per repair = $79

Carrier insurance cost = $10/month
Cost per replacement = $199
Total cost 1 year = $120
Total cost 2 years = $240

Total cost Applecare+ and Carrier insurance, 1 year = $240
Total cost Applecare+ and Carrier insurance, 2 years = $340

Broken Screen:
Cost of broken screen with Applecare+ = $79
Cost of broken screen without Applecare+ = $109 (4.7")
Savings with Applecare+ = $30 per incident (2 incidents max)

Cost of broken screen with carrier insurance = $199
Cost of broken screen without carrier insurance = $109
"Savings" with carrier insurance = -$91

Broken Phone
Cost of broken phone with Applecare+ = $79
Cost of broken phone without Applecare+ = $299 (4.7")
Savings with Applecare+ = $220 per incident (2 incidents max)

Cost of broken phone with carrier insurance = $199
Cost of broken phone without carrier insurance = $299
Savings with carrier insurance = $100 (2 incidents per year max)

Stolen Phone
Applecare+ -> Doesn't cover stolen phones.
Cost of stolen phone with carrier insurance = $199
Cost of stolen phone without carrier insurance = $650+
Savings with carrier insurance = $450+ (2 incidents per year max)

Max Savings
Max Savings with Applecare+ = $440 (2 completely broken phones)
Applecare savings with 2 broken screens = $60
Applecare savings with 1 broken screen incident and 1 broken phone incident = $250
Cost (2 years) = $99

Max Savings with carrier insurance = $900+/year (2 stolen phones)
"Savings" with two broken screens per year = -$182
Savings with two broken phones per year = $200
Cost = $120/year

Conclusion
It all depends on how likely you are to break your phone. If you use a case, a broken screen is almost an impossibility. Your only two risks would be water damage and loss/theft. Those are really easy risks to mitigate. However, if you live some kind of high risk lifestyle, it may still be worth it.

If you use a case and solely buy Applecare+, you're essentially paying $99 for the likelihood that you will get water damage over two years, or have a device malfunction after the 1st year. Theft isn't covered.

If you solely buy carrier insurance, you're basically not covered for a broken screen, since the deductible is higher than the repair cost. Additionally, the savings from a broken or water damaged phone ($100) is less than the annual cost of the insurance ($120). So you're primarily paying for the theft insurance, or for the likelihood that you'll break your phone more than once per year.

If you buy both, you're paying $220 for one year of coverage, and $340 for two years of coverage. That would only make sense if you lose a phone more often than once every four years ($650 savings), break a phone more than once every year and a half ($220 savings), break a screen more than 10 times per two years ($30 savings), or some combination thereof.

NOTE: AT&T's insurance cost appears to be slightly lower at $6.99/month. The device replacement fee is the same. So the cost/value analysis would be slightly more advantageous.

 

[thefourthpope]

I've always liked square trade, but as Apple's upfront cost of repair drops it becomes less attractive. Didn't do any kind of warranty for our last 5c, may well skip it with the 6.