Apple Retires iPhone Upgrade Program For Klarna-Backed Leases (macrumors.com) 37
Apple has replaced its iPhone Upgrade Program with Apple Upgrade, a Klarna-backed U.S. leasing service covering most iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches. MacRumors reports: Apple Upgrade has lower base prices than the iPhone Upgrade Program, with iPhones available starting at $17.99 per month and the Apple Watch available starting at $11.99 per month. Macs can be leased starting at $24.99 per month, and iPads start at $11.99 per month. AppleCare+ is optional and not included in the lease price, with customers also able to opt for AppleCare One. There are 12-month and 24-month leasing options for the iPhone and Apple Watch, along with 24-month and 36-month leasing options for the Mac and iPad. Lease cost varies based on device, and is lower with a device trade-in that's applied on a monthly basis. [...]
When leasing an iPhone, customers are required to choose a plan from AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile, and prepaid plans are not eligible. iPhones need to be leased with a carrier plan, but the iPhones are unlocked so customers can switch carriers if desired. MVNOs like Mint Mobile or Visible are not supported. At the end of the leasing period, customers can choose to return the device and exit the program, pay off the remaining amount owed on the device with a one-time payment and keep it, or return it and upgrade to a new device with a new lease.
The payoff amount is the difference between what was paid during the leasing period and the retail price of the device, minus any remaining trade-in credits. Klarna is not charging a fee for the leasing program, so an iPhone that's $1,099 can be leased and then purchased for $1,099 with no extra cost beyond taxes. As with trade-ins, Apple will send a pre-labeled and prepaid shipping box for device returns or upgrades. If you don't opt to pay the purchase fee at the end of the leasing program, you will not own the device and must return it. Last week, after Bloomberg reported on Apple's upcoming leasing program, 9to5Mac uncovered code in the iOS 27 beta suggesting the company was developing a system that could restrict leased iPhones when customers fall behind on payments. Apple has now told The Verge that the new "Restricted Mode" will not be activated in response to a missed lease payment. What the new system is actually meant for remains unclear.
When leasing an iPhone, customers are required to choose a plan from AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile, and prepaid plans are not eligible. iPhones need to be leased with a carrier plan, but the iPhones are unlocked so customers can switch carriers if desired. MVNOs like Mint Mobile or Visible are not supported. At the end of the leasing period, customers can choose to return the device and exit the program, pay off the remaining amount owed on the device with a one-time payment and keep it, or return it and upgrade to a new device with a new lease.
The payoff amount is the difference between what was paid during the leasing period and the retail price of the device, minus any remaining trade-in credits. Klarna is not charging a fee for the leasing program, so an iPhone that's $1,099 can be leased and then purchased for $1,099 with no extra cost beyond taxes. As with trade-ins, Apple will send a pre-labeled and prepaid shipping box for device returns or upgrades. If you don't opt to pay the purchase fee at the end of the leasing program, you will not own the device and must return it. Last week, after Bloomberg reported on Apple's upcoming leasing program, 9to5Mac uncovered code in the iOS 27 beta suggesting the company was developing a system that could restrict leased iPhones when customers fall behind on payments. Apple has now told The Verge that the new "Restricted Mode" will not be activated in response to a missed lease payment. What the new system is actually meant for remains unclear.
Re:Who's Klarna (Score:5, Informative)
Swedish buy now, pay later scheme.
Re:Who's Klarna (Score:5, Funny)
Swedish buy now, pay later scheme.
But will the iPhone come disassembled in two cardboard boxes with a set of perplexing instructions?
Re:Who's Klarna (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Who's Klarna (Score:4, Interesting)
But I never understood why such have started at all.
1. The number of parts that make up something you might assume would be rather simple, for example - a dresser, is more than most people anticipate.
2. Sometimes after taking inventory of the parts, people procrastinate on the actual assembly process and parts go missing in the interim.
3. In order to not have to translate the instructions into multiple languages, the instructions are entirely pictographic. That's fine until you're dealing with parts that have to go in a certain orientation or look similar to each other.
4. Some people actually don't have any tools in their home. I know, this one is kind of crazy, but it happens.
5. Assembly often takes much longer than expected. Spending a weekend putting together a new living room set tends to be one of those memories that lingers.
6. Most of the furniture isn't really designed to be disassembled again, so you pretty much have to build it where it's going to stay until you throw it out.
I still love IKEA for certain things, and yeah I've also got a wardrobe in boxes that I'm sure I'll get around to building, someday.
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This sounds like a uniquely you problem. I've never known anyone go to IKEA buy a wardrobe, cart it home, and then not build it. Even the wife who is an infamous collector of rubbish and probably the world's best procrastinator has all her IKEA purchases built within a weekend. Some of your points make sense, but some are truly bewildering:
1. Yeah number of parts can sometimes be a shock.
2. I've never known anyone to "take inventory" of anything from IKEA. They open the box when they want to build and build
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Ikea is always very clear on similar parts. One piece I had used three similar screws in different sizes - obviously different when you see them together, but a picture of a screw could be any of them. Every time an instruction called for one of these screws, there was a little inset with the three sizes of screw and the incorrect ones crossed out.
And they do occasionally use worded instructions. They try to avoid it, as two sentences take up half a page with all the different languages, but if needed they'
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If you don't have tools in your home, why are you buying furniture that you have to assemble with tools? Ikea doesn't exactly hide the fact you need to assemble it yourself when you're pulling the flat-packed box off the shelf...
IKEA instructions are fine, and so are the stores (Score:3)
I bought stuff from IKEA back when there were only two stores in the whole world. I still have some of that stuff more than 50 years later. It has been with me through 5 house moves and three country moves.
I have long been saying that if you can't follow IKEA instructions, you are not a functioning adult. Just bloody well pay attention to the detail. Every mark on the paper means something.
While we are on the subject, everyone who claims they get lost in IKEA stores is Not Paying Att
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I remember when the phone companies (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I remember when the phone companies (Score:5, Informative)
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That's the neat thing - they haven't stopped doing this! The subsidized phone price the carriers give you when signing up is priced into the service plan. If you don't upgrade again when you're eligible (perhaps because you're elderly and don't follow the promotions), that's now all gravy for the carrier.
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That's the neat thing - they haven't stopped doing this! The subsidized phone price the carriers give you when signing up is priced into the service plan. If you don't upgrade again when you're eligible (perhaps because you're elderly and don't follow the promotions), that's now all gravy for the carrier.
Do any carriers still do that? I haven't checked AT&T or Verizon, but with T-Mobile you can buy a phone from them and they just add the price to your bill over 24 months.
I think T-Mobile has only done it that way for at least a decade. I know that when I bought my Nokia N900 15+ years ago, I switched to T-Mobile because they were already giving a $20/month discount if you already owned a phone.
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Also, if they found you were using an extra line or a phone not authorized for that line...they'd confiscated the phone cord AND phone!
This was a plot point in an episode of Kolchak The Night Stalker. "The Knightly Murders" (Season 1, Episode 11)
It was based on an actual event which made national news.
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I remember when you were finally allowed to connect your own phone handsets to your phone line, but you had to contact the phone company and give them the Ringer Equivalence Number (REN) printed on the bottom of the phone. Because the power to ring the bell in the phone came from the phone line, the phone company needed to know if your total REN was above 5 so they could supply more power on your line.
As more phones started using electronic ring sounds instead of mechanical bells, the whole REN reporting d
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In my opinion, the biggest problem with this plan is the fact that you're locked into signing up for one of the big three post paid plans. The p
Sleazy (Score:3)
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This 'restricted mode' that Apple is vigorously denying will be used for lease enforcement suggests that the metaphorical arm is not that long and that Apple seems to be doing more than merely being willing to sell devices to whatever resel
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This 'restricted mode' that Apple is vigorously denying will be used for lease enforcement suggests that the metaphorical arm is not that long and that Apple seems to be doing more than merely being willing to sell devices to whatever resellers.
My guess would be the restricted mode might be something the prepaid carriers wanted. It is a fairly common thing for people to get a Metro by T-Mobile or Total Wireless iPhone to give to their kid as an inexpensive substitute for Apple's now discontinued iPod Touch. This would certainly nip that in the bud.
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I'm surprised that Apple would climb into bed with the predatory pack of sleaze balls that is Klarna. I cannot see this accomplishing anything beyond reputational damage.
And "revenue" in the next quarter, the goal of most large corporation? Apple will just throw Klarna under the bus if individuals figure out that this is not in the individuals best interest.
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Look at the company Tim Cook keeps these days
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Note: Apple Pay Later was also a thing once, which was a service exactly like Klarna, so, Apple sees no problem with offering a service like Klarna
Brought to you by the letter K (Score:1)
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One more step.... (Score:5, Insightful)
One more step towards the future business wants us all to inhabit, when you'll own nothing and you'll be thankful to have found a way to access whatever it is. Frak 'em.
Klarna? (Score:2)
Klarna sounds like a crypto scam.
Klarna this, Klarna that (Score:1)
WTF is even Klarna?
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A company mentioned no less than 30 times in the past 5 years years, often in Slashdot headlines. If you're allergic to Google, just hit the Slashdot search for your answers.
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Klarna always sounds to me like something a Klingon would say.
"Klaaaaaaarna" as he runs towards you with one of those funky Klingon blades.
Ah, the automobile lease model. (Score:2)
It's schmucks all the way down.
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Why buy when you can lease? (Score:2)
Eternal payments without the burden of owning property! /s
I know many people who are using old hand-me-down iPhones. They were gifted them because the trade-in value was low enough to be not worth bothering: just give it to a poor friend.
If everyone just turns in their iPhone at the lease expiration and leases the new model, Apple can control the hardware better -no danger of someone having an (ick) older model that might need support. It helps to maintain the Apple mystique if everyone is seen with only
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