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Do 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 f

Do 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 ago
Yes. 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...
dkonofalski 4y ago
3rd party extended warranties don't work the same way as the repair program. With a 3rd party warranty, they don't have to fix it with an equal part and they can also swap out the machine for a refurbished one.
- hot_gril 4y ago
  A swap sounds like it'd cost them more than it costs Apple to repair it.
  - dkonofalski 4y ago
    Not if they're swapping with a machine that they refurbished. They can keep swapping them ad infinitum. That's what Asurion does with cell phone warranty claims. You pay a $150 deductible and you get a refurbished phone in exchange. They fix the part that was broken on your phone that you're returning to them and it gets refurbed to the next person.
    - hot_gril 4y ago
      That just makes it faster. They still have to repair it either way.
      - dkonofalski 4y ago
        Yes, but they don't have to use genuine Apple parts or verify any of it through Apple's services. With Apple's repairs, they disassemble the devices and re-use the parts for service. With these third parties, they don't have to use parts that are at parity with the originals.
hoorible 4y ago
Admittedly this is anecdata, but here’s my take: I’ve been a Mac service technician at an Apple Store for almost a decade. I’ve had an extremely competitive wage for the entire time vs other jobs of this level, I get RSUs, and a very comprehensive benefits package even though I’m currently part-time. me and my team are expensive for what we are (essentially, just retail workers). The majority of appointments I take on the Genius Bar in a day have no charge; software/iCloud issues, data migrations, or just how-to questions are free and unlimited. Most, though certainly not all, repairs are done in warranty. Yes, repairs are often expensive, but when I think about the daily operating costs and salaries of my entire team vs how much revenue we bring in per paid repair transaction, I can’t see how repair costs & AC sales cover even half of it. That’s to say nothing of the extremely busy call centres that Apple waived the per-call fees for over five years ago. Take that for what it’s worth, but when you see how much traffic flows to and from the Genius Bar every day with no money ever changing hands, it would take a lot to convince me that AC is a profit centre, and not a huge loss leader.

dkonofalski 4y ago

Yes. 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...

dkonofalski 4y ago

3rd party extended warranties don't work the same way as the repair program. With a 3rd party warranty, they don't have to fix it with an equal part and they can also swap out the machine for a refurbished one.

hot_gril 4y ago
A swap sounds like it'd cost them more than it costs Apple to repair it.
- dkonofalski 4y ago
  Not if they're swapping with a machine that they refurbished. They can keep swapping them ad infinitum. That's what Asurion does with cell phone warranty claims. You pay a $150 deductible and you get a refurbished phone in exchange. They fix the part that was broken on your phone that you're returning to them and it gets refurbed to the next person.
  - hot_gril 4y ago
    That just makes it faster. They still have to repair it either way.
    - dkonofalski 4y ago
      Yes, but they don't have to use genuine Apple parts or verify any of it through Apple's services. With Apple's repairs, they disassemble the devices and re-use the parts for service. With these third parties, they don't have to use parts that are at parity with the originals.

hoorible 4y ago

Admittedly this is anecdata, but here’s my take: I’ve been a Mac service technician at an Apple Store for almost a decade. I’ve had an extremely competitive wage for the entire time vs other jobs of this level, I get RSUs, and a very comprehensive benefits package even though I’m currently part-time. me and my team are expensive for what we are (essentially, just retail workers). The majority of appointments I take on the Genius Bar in a day have no charge; software/iCloud issues, data migrations, or just how-to questions are free and unlimited. Most, though certainly not all, repairs are done in warranty. Yes, repairs are often expensive, but when I think about the daily operating costs and salaries of my entire team vs how much revenue we bring in per paid repair transaction, I can’t see how repair costs & AC sales cover even half of it. That’s to say nothing of the extremely busy call centres that Apple waived the per-call fees for over five years ago. Take that for what it’s worth, but when you see how much traffic flows to and from the Genius Bar every day with no money ever changing hands, it would take a lot to convince me that AC is a profit centre, and not a huge loss leader.