Other Is the iPhone Upgrade Program worth it?

[dstew201]

Eh. The only benefit for me was the preorder process, but now you can do that without being in the IUP.

I opted out last year after a snafu. I now purchase outright and trade in, I may lose about $45 but I also have the option of not being in AppleCare, or unlocking my phone and selling for more $$

 

[pugxiwawa]

Question for the upgrade programme:

When you go to Apple to get your new phone and you give them your old one, does Apple give you the trade-in value of your old phone?
EG you give them the iPhone 14 back and they minus that price from the iphone 15 you get?

No the value is already predetermined (50%) with IUP. This is not a trade in. You are just returning the phone like car lease.

 

[sjperformance]

Y’all forgetting you don’t have to trade in phone if you don’t want to right? One year I sold the phone. I believe the 12PM. Called apple to refund the 2nd year of apple care. Then citizen got the credit on balance. Then I paid off the balance. Sold it. Made $180 on it. Then I picked up 13PM on launch day. Shipped the 13PM to new buyer. I stopped doing this because I had to baby the phone to get highest resale value. So much effort put for not that much or a profit. I thought about doing that with 13PM going to 14PM but the profit margins weren’t the best. I also didn’t baby 13PM. Truly enjoyed it. Wasn’t top notch conditions. Just returned to apple and got the 14PM. AUP is awesome. Free loan. Options available at end.

 

[frosty001]

Interesting thread.

Why is a credit check (once a year) that big a deal? Genuine question.

Also, what are peoples issues with AppleCare+? It seems ok a deal to me, or are there much better alternatives (in the U.K.)

All opinions welcome.

 

[mikethebigo]

Absolutely not, but I'm staying on it.

 

[Kahsheh]

i think it has value if you have a higher priced phone. The trade in for pro max 1TB is $650. It would have been $800 (or half) with IUP.

 

[dstew201]

i think it has value if you have a higher priced phone. The trade in for pro max 1TB is $650. It would have been $800 (or half) with IUP.

Yes and no… with IUP you still have the sunk cost of AppleCare?

 

[Kahsheh]

Yes and no… with IUP you still have the sunk cost of AppleCare?

I buy AppleCare anyway. I left IUP last year, now bummed because of the trade in.

 

[dstew201]

I buy AppleCare anyway. I left IUP last year, now bummed because of the trade in.

I left last year also and ordered thru AT&T but it worked out due to an error with AT&T and I wound up with a free 13 pro max, so between the 13 pm and 14pm trade in the 15 will cost about $267 out of pocket. And of course I’ll trade the 15 PM for $640 (hopefully more) next year 🤣

 

[akash.nu]

Interesting thread.

Why is a credit check (once a year) that big a deal? Genuine question.

Also, what are peoples issues with AppleCare+? It seems ok a deal to me, or are there much better alternatives (in the U.K.)

All opinions welcome.

Personally I don’t like a hard credit check on me for a mere £1000 phone. Every hard credit check brings your score down by a notch. I don’t think it’s worth for a phone that I can literally buy just like that. I value my credit score a lot.

I was on IUP for a couple of years but then I confirmed with Apple directly when I was about to upgrade from my 11 Pro to the 12 Pro. Once I learned it was a hard credit check I didn’t get the 12 Pro anymore and continued with the 11 Pro for 2 years and then just bought the 13 Pro Max outright.

When I upgraded to the 14 Pro Max I just traded in the 13 Pro Max and got 50% of the purchase value which is what it ends up being anyway with IUP but in this case I didn’t have to go through a credit check.

 

[okkibs]

First time I hear about this upgrade program and it's rough, for the $999 Pro it comes out to $600 per year, every year, as long as you want to keep doing the yearly upgrade to the latest iteration. And when you eventually decide not to upgrade anymore after the announcement of a new model and you decide to let the upgrade program run out you still owe another $600.

Let's say you started with the 12 Pro, got the 13 Pro, 14 Pro and now the 15 Pro and then you stop upgrading. The total cost is $3000. If instead you just bought a 12 Pro and traded it in for a 15 Pro now the cost would be nearly halved, $1638. If you wanted the equivalent AC+ coverage it would still be considerably less, $2238.

And after all is said and done you'd still be the owner of the same iPhone 15 Pro. Is it really worth almost twice the cost to replace it every single year? And that's before looking at actual resale value and carrier deals.

The program doesn't even make sense for the cheaper non-Pro iPhones as you're paying to always be on the latest tech and the regular iPhones trail a year behind the Pros. It would make more sense then to pay a bit more to get the Pro model and replace that every two years.

 

[MarkNewton2023]

It depends on each individual. If someone does not want to pay upfront and does want to have new iPhone each year with an installment plan. It is worth it as long as they do not mind paying Apple Care +.

 

[akash.nu]

It depends on each individual. If someone does not want to pay upfront and does want to have new iPhone each year with an installment plan. It is worth it as long as they do not mind paying Apple Care +.

This!

 

[MisterSavage]

Why is a credit check (once a year) that big a deal? Genuine question.

Too many credit checks in a certain amount of time can be seen as a negative by some businesses, companies, etc. that you might have to deal with.

Personally I don’t like a hard credit check on me for a mere £1000 phone. Every hard credit check brings your score down by a notch.

I don't know if it's different where you are, but in the USA it is absolutely not necessarily a hard pull every year. It definitely hasn't been for me.

Is it really worth almost twice the cost to replace it every single year?

Yes, it's fun and I enjoy it. I'm not in the program for some huge cost savings. It makes it easy to upgrade each year, which is what I want.

 

[akash.nu]

I don't know if it's different where you are, but in the USA it is absolutely not necessarily a hard pull every year. It definitely hasn't been for me.

I’m in the U.K. and Apple has confirmed to me that it is a hard credit check every time we upgrade here.

 

[dstew201]

I’m in the U.K. and Apple has confirmed to me that it is a hard credit check every time we upgrade here.

They did random hard pull after 5 years…(US) up until then it was soft pulls. I immediately opted out and decided to just buy the phone.

 

[joshwithachance]

Considering Apple gives you around 50% trade-in value (a bit less or more depending on storage size) for last year’s model, I don’t think so personally. And not being on iUP also gives you the freedom to go prepaid, which is MUCH cheaper as well.

 

[MisterSavage]

I’m in the U.K. and Apple has confirmed to me that it is a hard credit check every time we upgrade here.

That sucks and obviously not ideal. I wonder why they do it that way there.