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The iPhone Upgrade Program is being replaced by Apple Upgrade

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Re: The iPhone Upgrade Program is being replaced by Apple Upgrade

#371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Giving people options that will in practice put them into spiraling debt slavery is objectively evil.

Great, lets remove the option of refined sugar, alcohol, saturated fats, detached single family homes (due to it resulting in individual cars, the leading cause of injury and death, and expenses that leads to "debt slavery"), etc. Also, no more leasing/renting cars, or really any kind of borrowing at all, as people should not have the option to become liable in the future, for anything. Because if a $1,000 to $2,000…

You’re being sarcastic, but I actually kind of agree.

Not that these options should be removed, but that they should be priced according to their costs to society.

You see that with alcohol and cigarettes in developed countries.

Leases should be more tightly regulated and require full coverage insurance. It already works like that for cars.

Borrowing is fine insofar as the payments or debt don’t interfere with your ability to survive. A bad credit score shouldn’t prevent you from living under a roof or getting a job. UBI would make this much easier in practice.

Re: The iPhone Upgrade Program is being replaced by Apple Upgrade

#372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you are willing to run an old OS (and the OS's are getting worse too) then I think you should be OK

It's not a great option. My "old" phone that I use to install junk apps (e.g. I buy some hardware that requires an app to set up) and which mostly sits in a drawer is a 2nd gen iphone SE, and it's getting to the point where I'm going to be forced to replace it, because the OS hasn't been upgraded in a while (it errors) and some apps won't install on it now.

I am running an iphone 12 mini without problems.

I expect I will eventually run into them but at that point I'll just stop upgrading apps.

Re: The iPhone Upgrade Program is being replaced by Apple Upgrade

#373
post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also charge heavy interest and fees to people who miss payments, but in this case that will be captured by Klarna.

Klarna does not charge interest or fees to people who miss payments.

https://www.klarna.com/us/help/payments/what-happens-if-i-ca...

> Late fees: what to expect > Late fees may apply if your payment isn't collected after multiple attempts:

> Pay in 4: A late fee may be charged per missed payment.

> Pay in 30 Days: Be sure to pay on time to avoid late fees.

> Pay over time: Late fees and interest may apply as outlined in your credit agreement.

Unlike what a lot of people in this country think, Klarna is not free money.

Re: The iPhone Upgrade Program is being replaced by Apple Upgrade

#374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what I mean. If you're the person who has leased this phone, you make all your payments and get to the end and your bill to keep the phone forever is going to seem kind of high. Obviously, that's logical. In your lease, you have only paid the price of depreciation. Just like with cars leasing is the most expensive way to own them, but I guess there's a certain buyer who doesn't want old stuff.

Except in this case you're not paying any extra. In fact it's cheaper to lease and then own an iPhone with this program because of the time value of money. It's an interest free loan for 2/3 of the price.

It’s not cheaper compared to the alternative of keeping the phone beyond the lease period.

Re: The iPhone Upgrade Program is being replaced by Apple Upgrade

#375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A lot of people aren’t going to have that $433 at the end of the lease to purchase the device outright I think you're looking at this too much from the perspective of someone who wants to own the phone, not as someone who wants to consider a lease. Leases are not a new invention. A lot of people, including very financially savvy and well off people, choose to lease rather than buy depending on the circumstances. It…

Why on earth are we leasing phones now???

The market must be stalling to the point the companies can't afford to innovate anymore.

Or at least that's how I understand why Samsung recently introduced literal first-party program for renting phones and is advertising it heavily. The flagships got too expensive.

Re: The iPhone Upgrade Program is being replaced by Apple Upgrade

#376

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…

Actually an even more cost effective way would be to buy a used 1-year old top of the line MacBook Pro on FBM with cash and then sell it a year later and rinse, wash, repeat.

But that’s a lot of having to deal with FBM.

Re: The iPhone Upgrade Program is being replaced by Apple Upgrade

#377
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, lets do math: - from this thread: 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 If you upgrade your phone every 1-2 years then what you pay for the phone is something like "full cost - optimistic trade-in value". I see no reason not to do if you know you going to upgrade.

I don't understand this mindset. I get that people who are going to upgrade to the latest flagship phone every 18-24 months will probably do better with this, but realistically... those people are fucking insanely financially irresponsible (and if you can afford it - no shade, I guess, its your money - lord knows I burn lots of cash on hobby projects of my own, although I tend to buy things that are actually projects…

Foldables may be an exception (or at least that's what I'm telling myself). The combination of larger screen when unfolded + logistics of a phone when folded means a foldable is basically a tablet that you don't have to actively plan around carrying, and it lends itself to much more multitasking. And the last round of upgrades actually was a qualitative jump big enough to drag Apple into the market kicking and screaming.

Re: The iPhone Upgrade Program is being replaced by Apple Upgrade

#378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> my guess is that they are hoping that most people just will send in the device and upgrade. That's precisely why they set it up this way, honestly leasing always made more sense for businesses. I prefer to keep my phones, peace of mind knowing, if I lose something that somehow did not make it to the backups, I can just turn on my old phone and find it.

Yeah I switch between android and iPhone sometimes so there's always something I forget to transfer over. After a long enough time I can wipe it and have it as a backup phone.

Yeah, same, I've consistently stayed on iOS since 2020 but I used to do the same, I had given a relative my "last Android" a few times, but they kept losing it, so I would never get those back at all, and I realized I lost files I didn't backup anywhere, so I stopped doing hand-me-down phones. So many photos from when I started dating my wife, completely gone as a result.

Re: The iPhone Upgrade Program is being replaced by Apple Upgrade

#379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except in this case you're not paying any extra. In fact it's cheaper to lease and then own an iPhone with this program because of the time value of money. It's an interest free loan for 2/3 of the price.

It’s not cheaper compared to the alternative of keeping the phone beyond the lease period.

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Re: The iPhone Upgrade Program is being replaced by Apple Upgrade

#380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people don't really buy phones every year anymore because they can't afford it. But because they're kinda meh year on year. I don't buy apple anymore but my Samsung S23 from 3 years ago has the exact same cameras as the current S26. Same screen, same form factor. Only thing that's new is a slightly faster SoC and a bit more memory for AI features I dont really use anyway. I just don't see the point in upgradi…

Some upgrades are meh, occasionally I want one thing. Like next upgrade I really want a higher optical zoom than 3x. But I think unlike leasing vehicles, where the vehicle has the same power (approximately and within usable limits) the new phones bring a new battery. If swappable battery was a thing everywhere; that would further depress the sale of new phones.

Is Apple going higher with optical then? Samsung has been going back with their optical zoom, from 10x to 5x and I heard they might even go back to 3x :'(
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