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Iphone upgrade program

jr866gooner

jr866gooner

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Aug 24, 2013
2,190
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So I started out my smartphone life on android. (Well it was simian but it was so awful it doesn't even count) and lasted on android for around 3 to 4 years. Took the plunge and migrated over to iphone in 2013 on an iPhone 5c which sits in my drawer leading me to temptation! Anyway from 2013 to 2015 I had the iPhone. I left iphone coming back to android on a galaxy s6. It was my first samsung since my s2 and by far well made and superior in every way with build quality. Now comes 2017 with 9 or so months till upgrade time I'm heavily considering a return to the iOS world. I'm using ipad along with android so I know roughly what to expect with iOS. I am thinking of going sim only and perhaps adopting the iPhone upgrade program. You get the opportunity to upgrade each year.. does anyone know of any pitfalls of this program? or the exact positing of phone ownership and what happens if phone is damaged etc.
 
Well I know you have to turn it on in front of them to prove it works. At one time you had to sign up to a contract in store too before leaving with your new device. And then what do Apple value your device at relative to what it's really worth?
 
jr866gooner said:
So I started out my smartphone life on android. (Well it was simian but it was so awful it doesn't even count) and lasted on android for around 3 to 4 years. Took the plunge and migrated over to iphone in 2013 on an iPhone 5c which sits in my drawer leading me to temptation! Anyway from 2013 to 2015 I had the iPhone. I left iphone coming back to android on a galaxy s6. It was my first samsung since my s2 and by far well made and superior in every way with build quality. Now comes 2017 with 9 or so months till upgrade time I'm heavily considering a return to the iOS world. I'm using ipad along with android so I know roughly what to expect with iOS. I am thinking of going sim only and perhaps adopting the iPhone upgrade program. You get the opportunity to upgrade each year.. does anyone know of any pitfalls of this program? or the exact positing of phone ownership and what happens if phone is damaged etc.
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Not sure what you mean by sim only but I believe you still have to be on one of the post paid carriers to get the program. The phone is yours the program is essentially free financing with a guaranteed buyback. If it is damaged they charge you the fee from your required AppleCare and you can still upgrade. I can't remember if it's $50 or if it's more now.
 
Sorry.. here in the UK our carriers offer sim only deals. 30 day rolling deals or 12 months whereby you effectively pay for your minutes texts and data but no phone comes into it so you can buy a cheap phone if you really wanted to, to use with that sim card.
 
The only thing I don't like about the program (I'm sure it applies to the U.K. as well) is the hard inquiry on your credit report. Keep in mind the hard inquiry only usually happens when you first join the program. Each subsequent year would not be a hard pull.
 
I'm not sure how the carrier portion works in the UK under the programme but in the US, you must have one a post-paid account on one of the major networks. In the US, you must make at least 12 payments on the loan before you can upgrade. So say you sign up for the AUP in the spring and 6 months later the new iPhone comes out. You would either have to wait until the following spring to upgrade OR make a bulk payment of the remaining 6 installments to upgrade at release time.

Also, keep in mind that this is a 24-month loan from a bank. You are paying the bank back, not Apple.

Otherwise, I've enjoyed being on it for the past 2 iPhones. The iPhone 7 was the first "upgrade" and hopefully Apple has learned from their mistakes there.
 
nburwell said:
The only thing I don't like about the program (I'm sure it applies to the U.K. as well) is the hard inquiry on your credit report. Keep in mind the hard inquiry only usually happens when you first join the program. Each subsequent year would not be a hard pull.
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I have a friend who DID get a hard pull on his credit on his second time around.
 
Newtons Apple said:
I have a friend who DID get a hard pull on his credit on his second time around.
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Really? I closely monitor my credit report and after I upgraded to the 7 in October, I repeatedly checked my report to see if a hard pull was done. When I originally joined the program back in 2015 showed up. Other than the hard inquiry for when I leased my car, nothing else popped up on my report for 2016.
 
nburwell said:
Really? I closely monitor my credit report and after I upgraded to the 7 in October, I repeatedly checked my report to see if a hard pull was done. When I originally joined the program back in 2015 showed up. Other than the hard inquiry for when I leased my car, nothing else popped up on my report for 2016.
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I Believe I read a credit hard pull only occurs once. I'm not saying it can't happen twice, but I thought I was under the impression it can only happen once.
 
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I regretted going with the Apple Upgrade Program. Like you, I recently made the switch from Android and thought it would be great to pay monthly and upgrade to the next iPhone every year. The downsides are like this past fall, upgrade program users had a hell of a time getting the new iPhone, for some reason Apple decided to only allow a certain number of users buy the new iPhone using that method. Next was I hated being locked into a loan for a phone. When I decided to sell my iPhone and get an Android, I had to call up Citizen's (which was a huge PITA), pay off my balance, then call up Apple and remove Apple Care, and had to wait for my loan to show that it was paid off. Now I'm dealing with my refund of Apple Care since it goes back to Citizens, and now I have to work with them to get them to pay it back to me.
 
nburwell said:
Really? I closely monitor my credit report and after I upgraded to the 7 in October, I repeatedly checked my report to see if a hard pull was done. When I originally joined the program back in 2015 showed up. Other than the hard inquiry for when I leased my car, nothing else popped up on my report for 2016.
Click to expand...
According to the contract terms, a credit report is pulled each time a person gets a new phone. Whether Citizens One actually does that each time, appears to be hit and miss (anecdotally speaking).
 
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