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What are the advantages of buying AppleCare or AppleCare+?

M

Myiphone7

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 18, 2010
848
0
I'm thinking about buying one or the other.

What's the difference?

If I scratch my iPhone, can I get it replaced by Apple if I buy AppleCare or AppleCare+? Are there any extra charges?

Will the new iPhone I receive have warranty protection? Will it be covered under AppleCare or AppleCare+?
 
AppleCare+ has replaced AppleCare. It now comes with accidental damage coverage.

It has the standard one year warranty, but you can double this warranty if you purchase with a credit card that provides extended warranty coverage. You only get 90 day coverage against damage/theft/loss (provided by the CC company) though.
 
As far as I know, there is no longer any such thing as standard AppleCare for an iPhone now. Just AppleCare+.

Your phone comes with a 1 year warranty that covers any defects the phone might have. That one year warranty does not cover accidents such as drops or water damage.

AppleCare+ extends this warranty to 2 years. It also gives you 2 years of technical support via the phone. And the biggest change is that it covers drops and water damage now. However, you will have to pay $50 for each replacement phone due to accidents (not defects though). And you only get two of these $50 replacements.

Wear and tear (such as scratches) will not be covered. Though if your phone shows up and it's already scratched, that will be considered a defect and covered under the standard warranty.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
AppleCare+ has replaced AppleCare. It now comes with accidental damage coverage.


It has the standard one year warranty, but you can double this warranty if you purchase with a credit card that provides extended warranty coverage. You only get 90 day coverage against damage/theft/loss (provided by the CC company) though.
Click to expand...

Sorry for some of the repeats, but.....

AppleCare + is for 2 years, for accidental damage/water/drops/spills but not theft and extends the software on the phone for that amount of time as well

Standard care 1 yr as mentioned for defects and such.

90 day coverage is for software issues and need assistance

You can opt for other iphone insurance, but they have + and -

Some credit cards will extend the Apple warranty, so if you have one of these, check into it.
 
dasx said:
I wish he had Applecare+ in Europe... Still stuck with Applecare. #facepalm
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Eh. While AppleCare+ is definitely a better deal than plain old AppleCare, I'm starting to question its value when it comes to the iPhone.

Most people it seems are purchasing a new phone once per year, which renders the tech warranty of AppleCare rather useless (you already get one year for free). Of course, you get protection from drops/accidents, but if you're worried about that, you might as well buy yourself an insurance plan from your carrier. If you're only replacing a phone every year, you're going to save yourself some money (the plans are typically $5 a month in the US), plus you get protection from theft and loss too.
 
I went with at&t insurance for now. It's $10 a month and $199 to replace but it covers lost or stolen phones. It would cost me over $800 to replace it without that coverage if it was lost or stolen so I guess its not too bad.
 
DeaconGraves said:
Eh. While AppleCare+ is definitely a better deal than plain old AppleCare, I'm starting to question its value when it comes to the iPhone.

Most people it seems are purchasing a new phone once per year, which renders the tech warranty of AppleCare rather useless (you already get one year for free). Of course, you get protection from drops/accidents, but if you're worried about that, you might as well buy yourself an insurance plan from your carrier. If you're only replacing a phone every year, you're going to save yourself some money (the plans are typically $5 a month in the US), plus you get protection from theft and loss too.
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I get your point, but will tell you how it works in Spain.
An insurance from my carrier (Vodafone) is around $10/month. So $120 before next iPhone's iteration. Also, you need to -at least- have the screen completely broken to have them look at it.

For what I've read Applecare+ is soooo much better than any insurance I could get from any Spanish carrier. I'm a usual early adopter, selling the previous model and getting a new unlocked one for an extra €200. (That kind of means $20 per month to always have the latest iPhone). In this case Applecare+ is pretty useful as I can get a perfect phone to resale and get the new model.

I don't think it'll get here though. :(
 
dasx said:
I get your point, but will tell you how it works in Spain.
An insurance from my carrier (Vodafone) is around $10/month. So $120 before next iPhone's iteration. Also, you need to -at least- have the screen completely broken to have them look at it.

For what I've read Applecare+ is soooo much better than any insurance I could get from any Spanish carrier. I'm a usual early adopter, selling the previous model and getting a new unlocked one for an extra €200. (That kind of means $20 per month to always have the latest iPhone). In this case Applecare+ is pretty useful as I can get a perfect phone to resale and get the new model.

I don't think it'll get here though. :(
Click to expand...

For what its worth, you can't just exchange any phone under AppleCare+. The phone doesn't have to be completely cracked like where you are (I got an iPad replaced when just the top right corner of the screen (mostly bezel) was cracked), but it doesn't cover wear and tear. So a nick here or a scratch there probably isn't enough.

But it does sound like it would be a better deal than Vodafone though!
 
techiegirl said:
So if I have a scratch on my phone and I want the phone replaced, I should just "accidentally" drop my phone?
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I'm assuming this is a scratch that occurred after you purchased the phone. If it came prescratched, Apple should accept the return.

But if you really want to spend $99 on AppleCare+, then sacrifice one of your two covered replacements on the scratch, and pay $50 for the scratch on top of that, then knock yourself out.
 
DeaconGraves said:
Most people it seems are purchasing a new phone once per year, which renders the tech warranty of AppleCare rather useless (you already get one year for free). Of course, you get protection from drops/accidents, but if you're worried about that, you might as well buy yourself an insurance plan from your carrier. If you're only replacing a phone every year, you're going to save yourself some money (the plans are typically $5 a month in the US), plus you get protection from theft and loss too.
Click to expand...

It's also a selling point. If I sell my iPhone 5 to get the next one, it still has one year warranty left as well as accident protection.
 
Does anyone know if you can "stack" AppleCare+ and AT&T Insurance? I had to make a call on at&t insurance when I ordered the phone, but it sounds like I may still be able to add AppleCare+ within a certain timeframe.
 
Corzin said:
Does anyone know if you can "stack" AppleCare+ and AT&T Insurance? I had to make a call on at&t insurance when I ordered the phone, but it sounds like I may still be able to add AppleCare+ within a certain timeframe.
Click to expand...

I don't see why you couldn't, but in all honesty you'd essentially be paying for double coverage in some situations. If you broke your phone, it's not like you could get it replaced twice.
 
DeaconGraves said:
For what its worth, you can't just exchange any phone under AppleCare+. The phone doesn't have to be completely cracked like where you are (I got an iPad replaced when just the top right corner of the screen (mostly bezel) was cracked), but it doesn't cover wear and tear. So a nick here or a scratch there probably isn't enough.

But it does sound like it would be a better deal than Vodafone though!
Click to expand...

Does it cover if you get your phone robbed btw?
 
TroyBoy30 said:
Problem is AppleCare wont replace the phone for a scratch. Normal wear and tear is not covered.
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Is this really a problem? Could you not "accidentally" break the screen and get the replacement if you wanted? Heard of people doing this before selling their iPhone to maximize selling price
 
justinmramirez said:
Is this really a problem? Could you not "accidentally" break the screen and get the replacement if you wanted? Heard of people doing this before selling their iPhone to maximize selling price
Click to expand...

They trust our insurance fraud laws to protect against that. Though I highly doubt anyone will go to jail for intentionally breaking an iPhone for insurance fraud, all it takes is one judge to have a bad day and a jury of senior citizens to set a legal precedent.
 
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