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Apple Care + is going to become an insane profit center and an absolute no brainer when purchasing a new Apple device. This puts Apple’s recent “no limit to ac
by anonymouse008 4y ago
Apple Care + is going to become an insane profit center and an absolute no brainer when purchasing a new Apple device.
This puts Apple’s recent “no limit to accidental repairs” policy update in perspective. When I saw that I said, “well I guess this is how they are going to use their cash reserves, because no way will this be net profitable”
To boot, I always wondered why it was so cheap - $200 for AC+ then $29 per screen or back replacement. When considering the employee time and equipment, that’s absolutely a loss.
As someone that just wants good things in the world, this makes my heart flutter. It’s wonderfully aligned with customers and does good for the bottom line.
Sorry to all my fellow repair brethren still slogging it out there. Accuse me of being a fanboy - but this is amazing.
[Edit]: This may potentially eat into the phone case market as well. The feel of a bare iPhone is that much better and you can put the cost of the case toward AC+.
- spiderfarmer 4y agoCommercial repairmen are already pretty quick with repairs, if this make repairs easier, they will make more money as well.
- layer8 4y agoSo far, not buying AC+ has had better amortized cost for me.
- dkonofalski 4y agoUntil it doesn't. I also gamble with this because I've never damaged my phone ever and I've had an iPhone since the OG. I'm not under any delusion, though, that this streak will last forever. I think I would currently need to damage/replace my phone twice to come out in the negative but that's still a possibility. I've been extremely careful and/or lucky.
- layer8 4y agoI damage my phone every couple of years. So it happens, but not frequently enough to warrant AC+.
- dkonofalski 4y agoThat doesn't mean that everyone has the same experience as you, though. All it takes is for you to damage your device 1 more time than usual for it to be worth it.
- hot_gril 4y agoYeah but Apple has probably found that on average the insurance isn't worth buying, otherwise they wouldn't offer it at this price. I guess it's worth buying if you know you're gonna break your phone even more frequently than the average AppleCare+ user does (which is likely more than the average iPhone user), but those $30 fees and the waiting time to repair a phone aren't free.
- dkonofalski 4y agoAppleCare has always been a loss for Apple. The entire repair division is a loss for them. They don't make a profit from repairs. This update is partially marketing spin but, for a lot of users, it was worth buying before and is now even more of a value. If you look at the things that Apple prioritizes, they want to disincentivize self-repair because any quality variations reflect on them whether they did the repair or not.
- goosedragons 4y agoDo you have a source for this? AppleCare+ for a MacBook Air is $250. You can get a 4 year 3rd party extended warranty for a similarly priced laptop off Amazon for $170. Presumably they make money off this but don't have advantages that Apple does like at cost repair parts. Are Apple products such garbage or so hard to repair that shorter more expensive warranties lose money? Seriously?
- dkonofalski 4y agoYes. You can look at every earnings statement they've released for the last 10 years or so. There are also articles that made a stink about it a while ago. Here's one but there are plenty more like it: https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/11/20/apple-says-repairs-cost-more-than-they-earn-in-charges https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/11/20/apple-says-repair...
- tshaddox 4y agoIt's definitely easy to imagine breaking even if you have the more expensive "AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss" plan where you can replace your phone twice a year for a $149 deductible.
- alana314 4y agoSame, I use a case and do my own repairs when stuff breaks
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Melatonic 4y agoMost people surely are not going to use it so how is it going to be a loss? Do people actually break their iphones every year?
- sp332 4y agoApple Care only costs $200 per phone. One person replacing a $1,000 phone wipes out five people's worth of revenue.
- eastbound 4y agoPhones are automatically dismounted in a special factory. It doesn’t cost $1000.
- hot_gril 4y agoIt doesn't cost Apple $1000 to make a new phone, but they miss out on $1000 of revenue if that person would otherwise buy a new iPhone. But maybe the person doesn't buy a new one. The cost of the consumer replacing a years-old iPhone is the used price. Personally I would never buy a used iPhone from eBay or something anymore, since there are too many gotchas with SIM locking and whatnot, but Apple also sells older models at a discounted price.
- kccqzy 4y agoYou can even pay it monthly, which probably costs $9.99 per month. Anecdote: I was on my seventh monthly payment when I accidentally smashed unassembled IKEA furniture on my phone at an IKEA store and broke the entire back glass and cameras. The technician noticed small cracks on the screen too that didn't actually bother me, but bothered him enough to swap the entire device.
- Gigachad 4y ago$1000 is the retail price. It costs less for Apple to give a replacement.
- shuntress 4y agoI think you are forgetting about everyone who pays for "Peace of Mind" and never breaks their phone.
- hot_gril 4y ago$200 per year plus $30 per repair is still a lot. How often do you smash your phone? Generally insurance is never positive-EV for the buyer unless peace of mind is considered, and to that I say, it's cheaper to find peace with the risk of breaking your phone.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- joshmanders 4y ago> How often do you smash your phone? So little that the 1 time it could happen in the 2 years of AppleCare makes it pay for itself.
- hot_gril 4y agoOnce every 2 years is kind of a lot.
- babypuncher 4y agoIn 13 years of using smartphones, I've needed exactly one out-of-warranty screen repair. And I don't even use a case. Not buying AppleCare+ has definitely saved me money. I can't see how Apple really loses money on this move unless people just start throwing their $1,000 pocket computers on the ground.
- mkagenius 4y agoMaybe not for iphones, but macbooks have a habit of dying on me. My 10 day old macbook pro's logic board died and the replacement new macbook's palm rest started giving clicking sound within 10 days again. How can i be so unlucky. Apple certainly is overlooking QC with macbooks.
- babypuncher 4y agoI qualified my statement with "out of warranty". I have had to take <12 month old devices that had defects crop up and have them repaired, but those repairs were free and did not require me to have AppleCare+. A logic board randomly dying 10 days after purchase would certainly be covered under the factory warranty.
- mkagenius 4y agoWhat I wanted to convey with the extreme examples was that macbooks die more often due to QC issue or something. They have died after the first year of warranty thrice on me. Due to this it is certainly mandatory to buy applecare+ for macbooks. I have not used iphones after the 5s so can't comment on that but it seems they have less problem than Macs.
- usaphp 4y agoHmm, my apple care for iPhone is $6/mo. So it’s just $72/year not $200