On September 11, Apple published a Newsroom post titled “Get ready to experience iPhone 18 Pro, the new Apple Watch lineup, and AirPods 5,” restating pre-order timing and adding detail not printed anywhere else: named Today at Apple sessions, a Mac Studio leasing figure, and a prep deadline that had already passed by the time…
Apple Upgrade
Apple Upgrade Could Become the Key to Selling a $1,999 iPhone Duo
Apple may eventually lean on monthly leasing and an international Apple Upgrade rollout to soften the iPhone Duo’s $1,999 price.
Apple Upgrade Excludes iPhone 16 and Apple Watch SE. Here Is the Full Eligibility List
Apple Upgrade’s launch list names which iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad models actually qualify for a lease, and which do not. iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus and Apple Watch SE are explicitly excluded. That eligibility list, not the monthly price, is the part of Apple’s July 28 announcement that decides whether a shopper can…
What Three Years of Apple Watch Ultra 4 Ownership Adds Up To, in Apple's Own Published Numbers
Apple Watch Ultra 4 starts at $799. Apple has not published a per-device AppleCare+ price for it, so the only coverage figure that exists is AppleCare One at $19.99 a month, a plan built to be shared across up to three devices rather than priced for an Ultra 4 alone. Add three years of that…
iPhone Duo Coverage Exists, the Price Does Not: Apple Confirms AppleCare+ for Its Fold and Publishes No Number
Apple’s own newsroom release for iPhone Duo confirms that AppleCare+ and AppleCare One plans are available for the fold. What that release does not do, anywhere Apple has published, is say what AppleCare+ for iPhone Duo actually costs. The case and the folio that protect it from the outside have prices in eight countries. The…
Five Costs Buyers Assume Are Included in Apple's September 2026 Lineup, and What Apple Actually Ships
Apple published exact prices for the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone Duo, Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4 and AirPods 5, down to individual cases and wrist straps. Five costs buyers routinely assume are already covered by that sticker price are not: the fast-charge adapter, per-device AppleCare+, the protection an Apple Upgrade lease is…
Apple Upgrade Plus AppleCare One Comes to $54.98 a Month, Above the Old Program's Own Floor
Lease an iPhone 18 Pro through Apple Upgrade and add AppleCare back the only way Apple currently prices it, AppleCare One at $19.99 a month, and the total comes to $54.98 a month. That is already above the more than $42 a month Apple charged for the iPhone Upgrade Program it retired in July, the…
Apple Upgrade's End-of-Lease Choices: Upgrade, Buy It Out, Return It, or Do Nothing for Six Months
Apple Upgrade does not end with ownership by default. When a lease term is up, Apple gives three explicit choices, upgrade to a new device, buy the current one outright with a one-time payment, or return it, and if a customer does none of the three, Apple says the lease simply converts to a month-to-month…
Apple Upgrade Covers Mac and iPad Too: $24.99 and $11.99 a Month, No AppleCare Either Way
Apple Upgrade, the Klarna-run lease that replaced the iPhone Upgrade Program in July, is not just an iPhone plan. Apple’s own footnotes list a Mac lease starting at $24.99 a month and an iPad lease starting at $11.99, both on 24 or 36 month terms, sitting alongside the iPhone and Apple Watch leases that run…
Cancelling an iPhone 18 Pro Order: The Apple Upgrade Lease Carries a Penalty a Cash Purchase Does Not
Cancelling an iPhone 18 Pro order works one way if you paid outright or financed it with Apple Card Monthly Installments, and a different way if you leased it through Apple Upgrade. Apple’s published terms describe a refund for the first group and a warning about a substantial charge for the second, and the two…
The iPhone 18 Pro Carrier Choice at Checkout Is Not the Commitment It Looks Like
The single most misunderstood number on iPhone 18 Pro pre-order morning is one Apple never prints. The 6.3-inch, 256GB model is $1,199 with carrier connectivity selected at checkout and $1,299 unlocked, a $100 gap that exists only as the difference between two prices on Apple’s own Store page, never as a stated discount. Every iPhone…
Apple Upgrade Leases an iPhone 18 Pro for $34.99, and Has Not Priced the Ending
Apple Upgrade puts an iPhone 18 Pro 256GB in your hand for $34.99 a month over 24 months, or $49.99 a month over 12, and Apple’s own footnote is blunt about what that is: “This offer is for a consumer lease, not a purchase or loan.” Apple publishes the monthly figure and names three ways…
iPhone 18 Pro Checkout: What Apple Card Installments, the Klarna Lease and Paying Outright Each Require
There are three ways to pay for an iPhone 18 Pro on Apple’s own checkout, and only one of them will take anyone. Apple Card Monthly Installments requires an Apple Card and one of three named carriers, the Apple Upgrade lease requires a Klarna account and US residency, and paying outright requires nothing at all.…
Apple Killed the iPhone Upgrade Program: What the $34.99 Apple Upgrade Lease Drops
The iPhone Upgrade Program does not exist any more. Apple retired it on July 28, 2026, telling customers in its own announcement that it “will no longer offer the iPhone Upgrade Program and iPhone Payments in the United States”, and replaced it with Apple Upgrade, a lease provided by Klarna Inc. that starts at $17.99…