The iPhone Upgrade Program is being replaced by Apple Upgrade

Post by ghaff » Wed, Jul 29, 2026, 12:49 PM UTC

al_borland wrote: post #308

sneak wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve always been told when computer shopping to “buy the fastest cpu and the most ram you can afford”. This goes doubly for revenue-generating devices. My iPhone is the computer I use most every day, by a WIDE margin.

I’m not sure this is the best advice anymore. So many people’s needs don’t demand much of a computer. My last personal computer purchase was an M1 Pro MBP 4 years ago. I could have maxed it out and my life would be the same, but instead I bought on the low end… or somewhere in the middle if we look at Apple’s lineup as a whole. It’s now 4 years later. This is the longest I’ve probably ever kept a laptop. It’s still r…

Post by alt227 » Wed, Jul 29, 2026, 12:58 PM UTC

socalgal2 wrote: post #61

I'm not sure I understand all the hate in this thread. I had a friend who bought a new Mac every year, selling his old Mac. His calculation was that it was about the same price as keeping one Mac and upgrading every 5 years. I'd consider leasing a Mac through this program. I priced one out, with the options I chose it's $8149, lease for $177 (6372 for 3yrs, 8496 for 4yrs). Yes, at the end of those 3 years I don't hav…

Post by maxerickson » Wed, Jul 29, 2026, 1:04 PM UTC

tshaddox wrote: post #184

paxys wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> iPhone 17 pro max would be $1199 to buy (~1273 with tax) or $34.99 for 24 months totaling $839.76. So would cost 433.33 at the end of the lease to keep it A lot of people aren’t going to have that $433 at the end of the lease to purchase the device outright, and so will have to roll it into another 2-year monthly payment, and another one after that. So the goal of the program is the same as every other similar one…

Isn't the 0% APR financing essentially just a sales expense? Even if people generally don't immediately roll into another 2-year agreement, the main reason zero-interest financing works for the sellers is simply that it makes it easier for people to spend money on expensive high-margin stuff. Multi-year zero-interest loans are also commonplace in high-price, high-margin specialty retail: think La-Z-Boy, Sleep Number,…

Post by rurifjciri » Wed, Jul 29, 2026, 1:08 PM UTC

Aurornis wrote: post #10

Interesting decision. As far as I can tell, the iPhone Upgrade Program was structured like a loan where you owned the device but kept making payments. You then had the option to trade up to a new phone and add more months to the loan, or to pay out the remainder of the loan (24 months?) They’re discontinuing this and replacing it with Apple Upgrade, which is structured as a lease. Apple owns the device and you make p…

Post by amazingman » Wed, Jul 29, 2026, 1:31 PM UTC

js2 wrote: post #53

xp84 wrote: post #16

Seems like a good place to also mourn the canonical best iPhone financing method - the blissfully simple Apple Card payment plan. They got rid of it[1] (except if you're engaging in the postpaid carrier contract foolishness) in 2023, which coincidentally was the last time I felt the need to get a new iPhone. I know a lot of people use postpaid, but I can't understand why. I'd challenge anyone to justify that decision…

I'm on Verizon postpaid, 4 lines on Unlimited Plus for $31/line. That's hard to beat pre-paid for comparable service. Yes, I have to threaten to leave Verizon once a year to get them to add a bunch of customer loyalty discounts, but that's not less work than switching pre-paid carriers to chase deals. I subscribe to /r/NoContract/ so I have a pretty good idea what's out there. Visible+ is a comparable pre-paid plan,…