Other iPhone Upgrade Program (in Germany)

[ParaShot]

Hi there,

As a rookie iPhone Upgrade Program user in the EU (more specifically Germany), I have a couple of questions for more experienced users, as neither the Apple Store colleagues nor the bank customer service have been able to help me so far.

With the pre-order period approaching, I would like to know how it works. I am on a 24-month monthly plan and Apple says I should get the option to upgrade.

But how do I do it? Do you receive a notification on your iPhone saying that you are eligible to upgrade? Do you order a new phone and return the old one? How do you ensure that the last 12 months of payments are taken care of? What should I do or pay attention to?

Thanks!

 

[BigMcGuire]

So my wife and I were on the Apple Upgrade Plan here in the USA since its origination - I stopped being part of it in 2023 and just paid off my phone. My wife is still on it (she paid off her phone earlier this year) - not having phone payments is REALLY NICE.

Assuming it is like the USA - you get an email saying: Do you want to upgrade early? They give you a site to pre-fill out your financial details and what phone you want, so when the pre-orders happen you're already ahead and can order it faster.

Yes, they send you the new phone with a return package for the old phone - so you can transfer it over to there new phone - with a generous timeframe when to return it.

They automatically charge you if it isn't a full year. You get an email (or at least we did).


Things to watch out for: Here in the USA it's getting harder to get an unlocked phone unless you pay for the phone outright. And most carriers will charge an upgrade fee even if you buy the phone on your own. I've abandoned Apple Upgrade Plan because I can put it on my Apple Card and still get 0% interest but now that option is locked to the big 3 carriers...

 

[ParaShot]

So my wife and I were on the Apple Upgrade Plan here in the USA since its origination - I stopped being part of it in 2023 and just paid off my phone. My wife is still on it (she paid off her phone earlier this year) - not having phone payments is REALLY NICE.

Assuming it is like the USA - you get an email saying: Do you want to upgrade early? They give you a site to pre-fill out your financial details and what phone you want, so when the pre-orders happen you're already ahead and can order it faster.

Yes, they send you the new phone with a return package for the old phone - so you can transfer it over to there new phone - with a generous timeframe when to return it.

They automatically charge you if it isn't a full year. You get an email (or at least we did).


Things to watch out for: Here in the USA it's getting harder to get an unlocked phone unless you pay for the phone outright. And most carriers will charge an upgrade fee even if you buy the phone on your own. I've abandoned Apple Upgrade Plan because I can put it on my Apple Card and still get 0% interest but now that option is locked to the big 3 carriers...

Thanks for the great explanation!

We don't have the Apple Card option here unfortunately. But also all the phones we get directly from Apple is unlocked. So that's why I am trying to use the 24 Month %0 interest option to pay monthly to save some cash and at the same time I could have the option to upgrade every year if I want.

I am looking forward to get that mail/notification to see if I can upgrade smooth as explained.