Apple is introducing this now because hardware capability ceilings are being hit and component prices are preventing higher specced components from being used.
I buy a new (non apple) phone most years, but I'll probably skip the next 2 years due to flatlining of specs and increasing price.
Agreed, there is very little happening from generation to generation. Yes, the 17 Pro had a redesign and better thermals, but was very boring otherwise. I don't really see why non-enthusiasts with a 14/15/16 Pro would upgrade.
The 17 was a good step up, but it's hard to cheer for finally getting a 120Hz display, while 300-400 Euro Android phones had them for a few years already.
The iPhone Air was the only really interesting model. But with only one camera and high introduction price, I don't think it was a failure in the market. Samsung had a similar problem with the S25 Edge - fewer cameras, but priced near the Ultra (the Air/Edge are a steal at the current pricing of 880/520 Euro, if you can live with the battery life).
I'd love to see more actually meaningful features. While the Samsung privacy display of the S26 Ultra may not have been perfect the first iteration, it's a innovative feature that is useful to a lot of people. (No, a privacy screen protector is not the same, I want to see most apps with the full flagship display glory.)
Another issue is that the pricing barely gets reduced over the year, while you can already get an S26 for just over 600 Euro.
The only phone I would consider upgrading from my 14 Pro Max is Air. I think phone cameras have hit a limit several years ago and stopped improving, the end results looking really weak even with all this heavy post processing. Air finally doesn’t feel like a brick while having a large enough screen. It’s a breath of fresh air, pun intended.
Slightly mixing up programs there - the initial statement ("your loan will be closed") applies to customers of the current "iPhone Upgrade Program" which is now being replaced by the new lease program via Klarna.
The new program, at the end of the initial lease term, will switch to an extended 6 month month-to-month lease; then at the end of that if you have still not acted, Klarna will charge the remaining buyout amount.
> For an iPhone 17 Pro 256GB with a purchase price of $1099 (excluding taxes and any trade-in credit), the typical monthly payment is $31.99 (excluding taxes and any trade-in credit) for a 24-month lease term and $45.99 (excluding taxes and any trade-in credit) for a 12-month lease term.
Riding out a 12 month term, you'll have paid in $551.88. Buyout at that point is $547; ride out the next 6 months month-to-month another $45.99/mo and Klarna will then ding you $271 and close it all out. I assume this is how they're going to avoid any kind of possible "paying more than the cost of the phone" shenanigans from a perpetual lease.
I use Klarna all the time
but I always felt that it’s more suited for fast fashion, Shein, Aliexpress etc kind of like sites. Apple giving them a huge business here selling millions of iPhones.
Unfortunately, these kind of constructions leads to people getting devices that are probably not good for their budget. If you cannot pay a 1200 Euro phone, getting a 40 Euro per month phone lease is probably also not a good idea.
Before people start strawmanning, yes, we do the same for house mortgages. But a living space is essential, but more importantly, long-term the value typically stays the same or rises. So, even if you cannot afford the mortgage anymore, you can sell the house, pay back the mortgage company and keep the capital you accumulated so far.
A phone is also an essential now, but they lose value over time, and many midrange 300-500 phones are barely worse than an iPhone nowadays and will also have 6 years of monthly security updates, etc. (if you pick the right brand).
These schemes are only there to trick people who probably couldn't afford luxury products into buying them. People who can afford an iPhone, can also save up for one or buy one outright.
Using Klarna is also indicative of Apple's moral rot. They are well known in Europe for willingly getting people to buy things they can't afford (I guess similar to US credit cards) and high-interest rate loans. They are a morally bankrupt company and it's sad that Apple has sunk so far just to make the line go up.
... though curiously, out of all the carriers, T-Mobile is now the first to start charging anywhere from 0% to 24% APR on their installment plans based on creditworthiness. I assume this is a signal that the era of 0% APR installments from carriers is going to start to disappear as well.
Sprint also got sued a few times over for offering leasing for cellphones - I wonder when the first lawsuits against Apple and Klarna are going to strike as well when consumers realize what they fell for.
Not sure why people are so negative about this, macbooks only really last a few years under heavy use anyway and most small businesses would love to pay $100/employee/month to make sure they all have hardware they need rather than trying to manage depreciation accounting and cash flow.
Eg often hardware over $1000 gets depreciated over 5 years but employee laptops get replaced every 3 years so subscribing can have a huge positive effect on cashflow
What exactly does "heavy use" mean? My MacBook Pro is now in its fourth year of daily development work. It doesn't show any kind of wear. So far I don't see any reason to replace it in the years to come. If nothing major changes I think I'll get another four years out of it.
Untrue to say they don’t last, our M1 macs 6 years later are still very usable.
However your point is very true for corporates, staff always want a refresh regardless if the laptop is good enough or not.
These personal plans make sense for people who want the latest and don’t like the hassle of reselling
> staff always want a refresh regardless if the laptop is good enough or not
My personal experience disagrees. A lot of colleagues are absolutely happy with keeping their machines for quite some time. A lot of it - believe it or not - is simply inertia. Apple has made switching MacBooks super easy but still the process of going through the migration process from one machine to the next simply isn't worth the trouble for a lot of them (and I include myself in that group as well).
If all your people are looking for is the latest and greatest gadget then you may simply have the wrong people in your team.
Mostly because IT insists that you need to start over with a fresh install.
When I last switched laptops, I just did `dd if=/dev/nvmeOldLaptop of=/dev/nvmeNewLaptop` and was good to go with the entire laptop state being replicated, compared to my colleagues who spent a week gradually copying all their stuff over, and still missing a ton. Some time later IT figured out my windows installation ID was wrong and just assumed they messed up during setup and updated their database.
I have a seven-year-old MacBook Air that is like new and runs just as fast today as it did the day I bought it. Battery lasts acceptably and it’s a joy to use.
Apple is introducing this now because hardware capability ceilings are being hit and component prices are preventing higher specced components from being used.
I buy a new (non apple) phone most years, but I'll probably skip the next 2 years due to flatlining of specs and increasing price.
Agreed, there is very little happening from generation to generation. Yes, the 17 Pro had a redesign and better thermals, but was very boring otherwise. I don't really see why non-enthusiasts with a 14/15/16 Pro would upgrade.
The 17 was a good step up, but it's hard to cheer for finally getting a 120Hz display, while 300-400 Euro Android phones had them for a few years already.
The iPhone Air was the only really interesting model. But with only one camera and high introduction price, I don't think it was a failure in the market. Samsung had a similar problem with the S25 Edge - fewer cameras, but priced near the Ultra (the Air/Edge are a steal at the current pricing of 880/520 Euro, if you can live with the battery life).
I'd love to see more actually meaningful features. While the Samsung privacy display of the S26 Ultra may not have been perfect the first iteration, it's a innovative feature that is useful to a lot of people. (No, a privacy screen protector is not the same, I want to see most apps with the full flagship display glory.)
Another issue is that the pricing barely gets reduced over the year, while you can already get an S26 for just over 600 Euro.
The only phone I would consider upgrading from my 14 Pro Max is Air. I think phone cameras have hit a limit several years ago and stopped improving, the end results looking really weak even with all this heavy post processing. Air finally doesn’t feel like a brick while having a large enough screen. It’s a breath of fresh air, pun intended.
If you don't mind me asking, why do you buy one new phone every year?
For what it’s worth, it’s lease to own:
> At the end of your initial lease term, you can do one of the following:
> Upgrade and return your current device. Footnote ◊
> Leave the program and return your current device. Footnote ◊
> Buy the device outright with a one-time payment from your Klarna account.
https://www.apple.com/shop/apple-upgrade
Slightly mixing up programs there - the initial statement ("your loan will be closed") applies to customers of the current "iPhone Upgrade Program" which is now being replaced by the new lease program via Klarna.
The new program, at the end of the initial lease term, will switch to an extended 6 month month-to-month lease; then at the end of that if you have still not acted, Klarna will charge the remaining buyout amount.
> For an iPhone 17 Pro 256GB with a purchase price of $1099 (excluding taxes and any trade-in credit), the typical monthly payment is $31.99 (excluding taxes and any trade-in credit) for a 24-month lease term and $45.99 (excluding taxes and any trade-in credit) for a 12-month lease term.
Riding out a 12 month term, you'll have paid in $551.88. Buyout at that point is $547; ride out the next 6 months month-to-month another $45.99/mo and Klarna will then ding you $271 and close it all out. I assume this is how they're going to avoid any kind of possible "paying more than the cost of the phone" shenanigans from a perpetual lease.
Good catch. Edited the original post.
Because if you don't own it nothing on it is monopoly anymore. You are allowed to use it the "intended" way.
I use Klarna all the time but I always felt that it’s more suited for fast fashion, Shein, Aliexpress etc kind of like sites. Apple giving them a huge business here selling millions of iPhones.
Makes sense here, then. Apple is primarily a luxury fashion company.
Then it is not a status symbol anymore.
Yup, exactly like luxury cars no longer are status symbols because they're leasable.
They certainly lost, status wise.
Own nothing and be happy. Hope people don't fall for this BS. The only thing you can control is to decide where to spend your own money and time.
What about it is BS? I don't see any issue with leasing things if it does make me happier.
Unfortunately, these kind of constructions leads to people getting devices that are probably not good for their budget. If you cannot pay a 1200 Euro phone, getting a 40 Euro per month phone lease is probably also not a good idea.
Before people start strawmanning, yes, we do the same for house mortgages. But a living space is essential, but more importantly, long-term the value typically stays the same or rises. So, even if you cannot afford the mortgage anymore, you can sell the house, pay back the mortgage company and keep the capital you accumulated so far.
A phone is also an essential now, but they lose value over time, and many midrange 300-500 phones are barely worse than an iPhone nowadays and will also have 6 years of monthly security updates, etc. (if you pick the right brand).
These schemes are only there to trick people who probably couldn't afford luxury products into buying them. People who can afford an iPhone, can also save up for one or buy one outright.
Using Klarna is also indicative of Apple's moral rot. They are well known in Europe for willingly getting people to buy things they can't afford (I guess similar to US credit cards) and high-interest rate loans. They are a morally bankrupt company and it's sad that Apple has sunk so far just to make the line go up.
Ignorance is bliss.
You'll own nothing and you'll be happy.
Why are capitalists doing this? I thought it wall all CuLtUrAl MaRxIstS??
Surely the invisible hand will provide for us
What the invisible hand giveth, the invisible hand taketh.
At the same time T-Mobile just announced they're finally going out to 36 month installment agreements on phones.
https://www.t-mobile.com/news/un-carrier/eip-flex-36
... though curiously, out of all the carriers, T-Mobile is now the first to start charging anywhere from 0% to 24% APR on their installment plans based on creditworthiness. I assume this is a signal that the era of 0% APR installments from carriers is going to start to disappear as well.
Sprint also got sued a few times over for offering leasing for cellphones - I wonder when the first lawsuits against Apple and Klarna are going to strike as well when consumers realize what they fell for.
Not sure why people are so negative about this, macbooks only really last a few years under heavy use anyway and most small businesses would love to pay $100/employee/month to make sure they all have hardware they need rather than trying to manage depreciation accounting and cash flow.
Eg often hardware over $1000 gets depreciated over 5 years but employee laptops get replaced every 3 years so subscribing can have a huge positive effect on cashflow
What exactly does "heavy use" mean? My MacBook Pro is now in its fourth year of daily development work. It doesn't show any kind of wear. So far I don't see any reason to replace it in the years to come. If nothing major changes I think I'll get another four years out of it.
[delayed]
Untrue to say they don’t last, our M1 macs 6 years later are still very usable. However your point is very true for corporates, staff always want a refresh regardless if the laptop is good enough or not.
These personal plans make sense for people who want the latest and don’t like the hassle of reselling
> staff always want a refresh regardless if the laptop is good enough or not
My personal experience disagrees. A lot of colleagues are absolutely happy with keeping their machines for quite some time. A lot of it - believe it or not - is simply inertia. Apple has made switching MacBooks super easy but still the process of going through the migration process from one machine to the next simply isn't worth the trouble for a lot of them (and I include myself in that group as well).
If all your people are looking for is the latest and greatest gadget then you may simply have the wrong people in your team.
Mostly because IT insists that you need to start over with a fresh install.
When I last switched laptops, I just did `dd if=/dev/nvmeOldLaptop of=/dev/nvmeNewLaptop` and was good to go with the entire laptop state being replicated, compared to my colleagues who spent a week gradually copying all their stuff over, and still missing a ton. Some time later IT figured out my windows installation ID was wrong and just assumed they messed up during setup and updated their database.
I have a seven-year-old MacBook Air that is like new and runs just as fast today as it did the day I bought it. Battery lasts acceptably and it’s a joy to use.
It occurs to me that none of those metrics include numbers.
What kind of numbers would be acceptable to you?
>macbooks only really last a few years under heavy use anyway
What?