Is it Worth Buying AppleCare+ for iPhone X?

[Agent OrangeZ]

This isn't true. My girl had cracked her phone twice within the last year and both were replaced with brand new iPhone 7s.

You only only get new if they are out of stock on refurbs... and yes... I worked for Asurion for a year... And you are more likely to get new when the phone has just came out recently... but... I couldn't begin to tell you how many people I have spoken to who got replacements with unresponsive screens, non-working headphone jacks or phones that won't charge. Asurion refurbs are garbage.
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PS
Apple R&D spending was 0.8 Billions in 2007, and 10.1 Billions in 2016.

Now lets compare the volume of sales of iPhones from 2007... compared to now.

 

[pat500000]

I always get my applecare plus for all my expensive devices. Although EDIT:i haven't broken any of idevices or mac pro, i still believe in being proactive. That being said, if i don’t like my x...i could refund everything including apple care plus and something else.

I believe in being proactive then Reactive.

 

[BB8]

I don't think it's worth it, but then I also don't break my phone every year like some people do.

 

[icewolf247]

[doublepost=1509316087][/doublepost]Here in the UK it is cheaper to simply insure the iPhone. Better coverage, no limit to number of claims, loss and theft are also covered which is not the case with Apple Care. I did the figures, insurance is better value.

That's the same opinion I have come to, UK also

Have never had separate insurance before but if I keep the phone this time I think I will

Have you an insurance company in mind?

 

[kazmac]

Sheesh...I thought $129 (or is it $149 now?) for the 7+ was too much.

I always buy Apple Care for every Apple product I own, if I sell before the time is up, I call Apple for the pro-rated refund. If I wanted to buy the X, this is just another element that would make me question how necessary is this phone to me.

 

[0023828]

In the EU Apple Care has little to no use since EU consumer protection laws are quite good. Furthermore, in the case one might damage ones screen, might as well repair it and spend as much as Apple Care +the fee.

That’s fine if you buy it from Apple directly who are happy to honour their obligations as a retailer (note as a retailer and not manufacturer), however all I can say is GOOD LUCK if you try and exercise consumer law with a third party, they are often very evasive and in my experience they’ve even denied consumer law exists.

 

[Artimus12]

After spending at least a thousand dollars on a brand new iPhone X, you may be debating whether it's really worth it to spend an additional few hundred dollars on an AppleCare+ plan to insure your shiny new smartphone.

AppleCare+ is an optional, premium warranty plan that extends an iPhone's warranty coverage to two years from the original purchase date of the device, and adds up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of $29 for screen damage, or $99 for any other damage.

AppleCare+ for iPhone X costs $199 upfront, compared to $129 for the iPhone 8 and $149 for the iPhone 8 Plus. As with virtually any form of insurance, AppleCare+ only pays for itself in the event you accidentally damage your device.

To determine if AppleCare+ is worthwhile, we first must look at how much it will cost to repair the iPhone X without the coverage.

Apple recently confirmed it will charge out-of-warranty rates of $279 for iPhone X screen repairs, and $549 for any other damage to the device, unless it is a manufacturing defect covered by Apple's standard one-year limited warranty.

With AppleCare+ for iPhone X, the price of a repair would be the $199 upfront cost of the plan plus a $29 to $99 incidental fee.

If you shatter your iPhone X's screen once, for example, you would pay $279 out of warranty. With the upfront cost of AppleCare+ coupled with the screen repair incidental fee, you would pay $228, so purchasing the plan can save you money in the long run if an accident happens.

If you shatter your iPhone X's back glass, having AppleCare+ is even more worthwhile. Apple's flat rate is $549 for this type of damage, while the upfront cost of AppleCare+ coupled with a $99 incidental fee totals $298.

The chart below shows that AppleCare+ will save you money in the long run if you damage your iPhone X in any way just once in two years.

Even if you never damage your iPhone X, AppleCare+ has one additional perk that can be quite valuable: 24/7 priority access to Apple support advisors via phone or online chat for two years after your iPhone X's purchase date. Without it, iPhone users are covered by just 90 days of complimentary telephone support.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer as to whether AppleCare+ is worth it, as it very much depends on how careful you are. But given the iPhone X's out-of-warranty repair fees are quite high, it may be more worthwhile than ever.

AppleCare+ can be purchased through Apple's online or retail stores. If not purchased alongside the iPhone, it can be added within 60 days, pending a diagnostic test to ensure no damage has occurred in that time.

It's also worth noting that if you cancel your AppleCare+ plan before the two-year coverage period expires, you'll get a partial refund based on the percentage of unexpired coverage, minus the value of any service already provided. A cancellation fee of $25 or 10 percent of the pro-rata amount, whichever is less, applies.

All prices above are listed in U.S. dollars. AppleCare+ and Apple's out-of-warranty repair fees vary in other countries.

Article Link: Is it Worth Buying AppleCare+ for iPhone X?

I've never broken an iPhone screen or glass back and have owned the 3Gs, 4, 4s, 5s & 6s! I took it out on the 4 because I wasn't sure how tough they would be ...so 20% of the device cost is a bit pricey for something I may never need. Besides which, I think my household insurance now covers my electronics - I know for a fact it covers both the MacBooks here "new for old". Others should check they're not covered elsewhere before shelling out that amount of cash.

 

[MrMister111]

Is it worth it if going IUP? I know you have to as such, but as its over 20 months, makes it easier?

UK IUP for 64Gb X £56.45 per month, the straight 0% deal no AC+ £46.50 per month, so £10/month extra, and I believe if you upgrade after a year on IUP you get refunded the balance of AC+ (trying to confirm this in UK) - worth it? not sure...

 

[dlondon]

Agreed. consumer law in the UK covers hardware defects for 6 years from date of delivery as long as the Apple product is directly bought from Apple, I believe. Therefore unless you require accidental damage, it is definitely not worth buying. They'll even replace you battery for free if it holds less than 80% charge, as long as it's still within the consumer law's 6 year period.

Not quite. You have up to 6 years from the date of purchase to make a claim, that does not mean the product has to last 6 years. Two main aspects:

• Was the fault present at the time of purchase? If it occurs within 6 months, then the law says yes. After 6 months, you have to prove it. A recall or replacement 'program' due to a faulty part could demonstrate that the fault was present at the time of purchase, even if the fault only developed in your device several years later. That wouldn't necessarily mean a replacement or full refund though. A repair or discount/partial refund can be offered.
• How long should a phone last? It might be hard to justify that it is reasonable to expect a phone to last 6 years, given that we take them everywhere and most people don't have a phone that long to demonstrate that the majority of phones last that long. That said, it's an expensive phone and it could be argued that there would be a reasonable expectation that a premium device might last longer than average, but probably not 6 years.

The battery issue is interesting because Apple is ambiguous in confirming the time limits for the 80% capacity. It mentions the if the consumer is covered under 'warranty, AppleCare+ or consumer law' but UK consumer laws do not specify the 'reasonable' period, and neither does Apple.

UK laws provide additional protection for consumers but it's not clear cut. Apple is generally good when it comes to replacement programs (compared to other manufacturers), it isn't always consistent with customers being told different things and some repairs not publicised.

 

[ovo6]

The iPhone "X" is all glass body..... so the answer would be yes. unless you get a case.

You've already spend a thousand anyway,,, what's a few hundred more?

dude there’s some of us that just don’t like cases i’ve never used a case in my life i like how the phone feels

 

[lordofthereef]

Honestly, with the costs of Apple care the way they are, carrier insurance is now much more attractive. I’ll continue to self insure though.

 

[Artimus12]

I use to think the same thing until a few years ago I broke the screen on my phone twice (because I didn't have Apple Care the 2 screen replacements cost me as much as a new phone) in the span of a month. Last week, I some how cracked the screen on my watch and if I didn't have Apple it would have cost me $268 which is almost the cost of a new watch. I think it is worth the cost especially now that the iPhone 8 & X have glass fronts and backs.

I think if you're the type that's pre-disposed to breaking stuff (we all have at least one butter-fingered, clumsy, oaf on speed dial ), you should get it! If you're the type that has feeling in your hands you're probably better off keeping the money in your wallet.

 

[Lax608]

Why would a rear glass replacement be “other” and more expensive than a screen replacement? Kinda doesn’t makes sense. I’d demand the rear glass be covered for the same cost as the front glass.

All of the guts on the inside have to attach to something. So the replacement process, I would imagine would be much different for the back as I’m guessing everything is secured to the back glass, then the front. Assuming this is the case I think Apple deserves a bit of credit since the majority of us could live with a cracked back glass far easier than the the front.

We won’t know any of this for sure, at least I don’t think we would, until ifixit or someone does a tear down.

AC+ is expensive but like someone said before piece of mind comes at a cost as well.

 

[Ken Linger]

Extended warranties, to me, are companies laughing in the consumers' faces. It's like buying a $1000 item and at the checkout counter, someone asks, "Would you like me to charge you an extra $200?" "Um... OK!"

If a company claims its products last years and are so reliable that the repairman has the most boring job in the world (I'm looking at you, Maytag) but their included warranty is only one year, then they're only willing to stand by their claim for a single year and you should disregard any other promises during your product comparison.

AppleCare, on the other hand, at least covers the accidental damage. I've never purchased AppleCare for an iPhone nor have I ever broken one. But, I see people with broken screens all the time so if you're prone to this kind of damage, then it may be suitable for you. Others are right, though, in that it takes 2 screen damages to really "pay off" (or, in the case of the X, a back-glass breakage).

 

[mmm1345]

Seriously, this greedy company is not the Apple I like.
View attachment 728864

Apple has always been greedy. Every company is.

 

[kwokaaron]

Not quite. You have up to 6 years from the date of purchase to make a claim, that does not mean the product has to last 6 years. Two main aspects:

• Was the fault present at the time of purchase? If it occurs within 6 months, then the law says yes. After 6 months, you have to prove it. A recall or replacement 'program' due to a faulty part could demonstrate that the fault was present at the time of purchase, even if the fault only developed in your device several years later. That wouldn't necessarily mean a replacement or full refund though. A repair or discount/partial refund can be offered.
• How long should a phone last? It might be hard to justify that it is reasonable to expect a phone to last 6 years, given that we take them everywhere and most people don't have a phone that long to demonstrate that the majority of phones last that long. That said, it's an expensive phone and it could be argued that there would be a reasonable expectation that a premium device might last longer than average, but probably not 6 years.

The battery issue is interesting because Apple is ambiguous in confirming the time limits for the 80% capacity. It mentions the if the consumer is covered under 'warranty, AppleCare+ or consumer law' but UK consumer laws do not specify the 'reasonable' period, and neither does Apple.

UK laws provide additional protection for consumers but it's not clear cut. Apple is generally good when it comes to replacement programs (compared to other manufacturers), it isn't always consistent with customers being told different things and some repairs not publicised.

As I've mentioned in this post, Apple has been very lax about this from my own past experience. I'm not saying that you're wrong, but simply that they don't seem to be very picky about whether the fault would have been present on purchase. From my experience, as long as you're Apple product has been well-maintained and looked after (LCI not activated, minimal if any scratches/damage on the product in question), any fault that is unlikely to be caused by the user (such as internal hardware failures) would be happily be repaired or replaced by Apple.

In regards to how long the phone should last, I'm only really expecting them to provide free service if any hardware failure does occur within that 6 years, such as any hardware malfunctioning issues etc. that would have been unlikely to be caused by the user.

As for the battery issue, again from past experience, they were willing to replace my battery for free based off the decreased battery capacity and the fact that it was still under the 6 year period.

 

[MH01]

False. The iPhone 8 is a brand-new iPhone and a great one, and it's selling for pretty much the same price as every other new iPhone has. The iPhone X is NEXT YEAR'S IPHONE that you can buy today for a small premium. The reason for the premium is that Samsung and other suppliers are taxing Apple on the parts before Apple can build a solid supply chain. It literally costs Apple $150+ just for the display part to replace on an iPhone X. And you want Apple to continue charging for $129 for fixing w/o AppleCare? A Samsung employee could walk out of the Apple store, slam it on the ground, bring it back to get fixed for $129, and repeat that 100x per day to make a fortune for Samsung.

Stop the conspiracy theories. LBJ didn't kill JFK and Tim Cook is not trying to steal your life savings. If you think X is priced too high then don't buy one.

It's a 4th year of the same design .... give it a rest about it being a brilliant new phone ! It does not deserve to remain at a premium price point with the X out .

Try being a consumer and not an apologist to be honest . It's this attitude that sees Apple prices going up and up....

 

[Artimus12]

False. The iPhone 8 is a brand-new iPhone and a great one, and it's selling for pretty much the same price as every other new iPhone has. The iPhone X is NEXT YEAR'S IPHONE that you can buy today for a small premium. The reason for the premium is that Samsung and other suppliers are taxing Apple on the parts before Apple can build a solid supply chain. It literally costs Apple $150+ just for the display part to replace on an iPhone X. And you want Apple to continue charging for $129 for fixing w/o AppleCare? A Samsung employee could walk out of the Apple store, slam it on the ground, bring it back to get fixed for $129, and repeat that 100x per day to make a fortune for Samsung.

Stop the conspiracy theories. LBJ didn't kill JFK and Tim Cook is not trying to steal your life savings. If you think X is priced too high then don't buy one.

Only last Friday I caught Tim Cook with his hand in my pocket! He took a whole grand in cash, and replaced it with an IOU.

 

[MH01]

I always get my applecare plus for all my expensive devices. Although i have broken any of idevices or mac pro, i still believe in being proactive. That being said, if i don’t like my x...i could refund everything including apple care plus and something else.

I believe in being proactive then Reactive.

Very good advice . Might as well get it and if you return it in 14 days, it's all refunded .

Though I have been super skeptical of faceid v touchid I've got an x coming on the 3rd so u can try it and compare.

 

[QCassidy352]

ROTFL...those could be the more epically dumb statements I’ve ever seen.

I've never understood people who feel the need to be nasty just to register a disagreement. What a sad way to live.

BMW and the likes must be happy that all the R&D money was spent by good ol Ford, now they’re all just banking on that wheels on an engine invention...

Though IF you're going to be nasty, you might try to have your own post make even a tiny bit of sense. I'm talking about a single company relying on its own R&D, not one company relying on the R&D of an industry competitor. If you think otherwise, you completely misread my post.

Apple R&D spending was 0.8 Billions in 2007, and 10.1 Billions in 2016.

AND, you might also try to look at all of the meaningful numbers rather than just cherry-picked ones.

First, you don't know how much of that R&D is iPhone, so that's a pretty meaningless number. We know, for example, that apple still pours R&D money into iPads, watches, Siri, AR, a self-driving car project, and probably a lot more we don't know about.

But second, and even more importantly, if your contention is that Apple needs to raise iPhone prices to account for R&D, let's compare iPhone sales in 2007 to 2016. The answer? 1.4M vs 201M.

Meaning that in the same time that Apple's global R&D (not just iPhone) has increased 12.6x, iPhone sales have increased 143.5x.

So please, explain how a 143.5x sales increase fails to cover a 12.6x R&D increase such that they need to raise iPhone prices as much as they have.

Edit: I used 2007 because that's what you used, but 2008 would probably make more sense, since the iPhone was only on sale for half of 2007. In 2008, Apple sold approximately 11.5M iPhones, which still means iPhone sales have gone up 17.5x from 2008-2016, still outpacing R&D, though not by nearly as much as 2007 would make it seem.

 

[therfman]

I’ve bought AppleCare+ a few times over the years and never had to use it.

It seems that the people who benefit the most are those that magically have a fresh, AppleCare-replaced iPhone for sale each year, just as the latest upgrade is available.

 

[pat500000]

Very good advice . Might as well get it and if you return it in 14 days, it's all refunded .

Though I have been super skeptical of faceid v touchid I've got an x coming on the 3rd so u can try it and compare.

My bad..i meant to say *haven't broken my things yet. Yeah..at least while you try them.

 

[gaximus]

I always get it. I don't use a case. And I usually break the screen at least once. Last time it was so bad they gave me a new phone for $29. Also replaced the screen once for a scratch, cheaper than a good screen protector.

 

[iName]

You don’t have to get the warranty but you can’t cry and complain if it does break.

 

[cosmichobo]

As noted, check your country's consumer protection laws first - often makes AppleCare an expensive almost pointless waste of money.

You don’t have to get the warranty but you can’t cry and complain if it does break.

If it does "break" due to manufacture - you should have every right to complain.