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 a month.
The monthly figures are lower than the old program’s, and an iPhone 18 Pro leases at $34.99 a month over 24 months against $49.95 a month to buy the same phone on Apple Card installments. Two things changed underneath that number, and both matter more than the saving: AppleCare is no longer included, and a lease is not a purchase.
| Key fact | What Apple publishes |
|---|---|
| What replaced what | Apple Upgrade replaced the iPhone Upgrade Program on July 28, 2026 |
| Who provides it | A lease from Klarna Inc., US residents only |
| Starting prices | iPhone from $17.99, Apple Watch from $11.99, iPad from $11.99, Mac from $24.99 a month |
| iPhone 18 Pro 256GB | $34.99 a month over 24 months, or $49.99 a month over 12 |
| iPhone Duo | From $57.99 a month over 24 months |
| Terms offered | iPhone and Apple Watch 12 or 24 months; Mac and iPad 24 or 36 months |
| AppleCare | Not included. Apple says customers can add an AppleCare subscription |
A lease is not ownership, and the end of the term is the unpublished part
Apple lists three ways a lease ends. You upgrade to a new device, you buy the one you have outright with a one-time payment, or you return it. Do nothing and Apple says the lease converts to a month-to-month lease for up to six months.
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What Apple does not publish is the size of that one-time payment. Without it, the full cost of owning an iPhone bought this way cannot be worked out from Apple’s own figures, which is the difference between the lease and every other route in Apple’s checkout. It was reported when the programme launched that Klarna charges no financing fee, but Apple itself has not put a buyout number on any page we can cite.
The device also has to come back in good condition, and Apple states that damage fees may apply. Eligibility runs to being 18 or over, with a valid SSN or ITIN, an accepted card, an Apple Account in good standing and a Klarna account.
The two-year arithmetic, side by side
| Over 24 months | Apple Upgrade lease | Apple Card installments | Paying up front |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly figure | $34.99 | $49.95 | None |
| Total paid | $839.76 | $1,198.80 | $1,199 |
| Rate | Lease, no APR published | 0 percent APR | Not applicable |
| Do you own it after 24 months | No, unless you pay a buyout Apple has not priced | Yes | Yes, immediately |
| AppleCare included | No | No | No |
| Available outside the US | No | No | Yes |
The monthly figures are Apple’s and exclude taxes and any trade-in credit. The totals are our arithmetic on those figures. The $359.04 gap over two years is the price of not owning the phone at the end, and our iPhone 18 Pro price breakdown has the tier prices the installment route settles against.
The AppleCare gap is the real change from the old program
The iPhone Upgrade Program bundled AppleCare Plus into the monthly payment and cost more than $42 a month across 24 installments. Apple Upgrade does not. That is the catch, and it is not a small one, because Apple has not published an AppleCare Plus price for iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max or iPhone Duo. The price tables on Apple’s support pages render their model rows and leave the figures blank.
The one coverage price Apple has published this launch is AppleCare One at $19.99 a month for up to three products, with additional devices at $5.99 a month each, plus a new AppleCare One Family at $49.99 a month from September 14. Add the individual plan to a leased iPhone 18 Pro and the monthly figure becomes $54.98, which is above the $49.95 you would pay to buy the phone outright over the same period. That is the arithmetic worth doing before the lease looks cheap, and it applies just as much to a leased Apple Watch Series 12 at $11.99 a month.
Who the lease actually suits
- It is a rental with an upgrade path, built for handing the phone back after 12 or 24 months. The 12-month iPhone 18 Pro rate is $49.99 a month.
- It is US-only. Buyers elsewhere have installment terms instead, and Apple has published nothing about Apple Upgrade launching in another country.
- It cannot be combined with the Veterans and Military storefront, where Apple’s 10 percent discount lives. Apple Card installments are unavailable there too.
- It is priced per device, so iPhone Duo starts at $57.99 a month over 24 months against a $1,999 list price. Our iPhone Duo guide has the four storage tiers.
What has not been confirmed
Apple has not published the end-of-term buyout price for any Apple Upgrade lease, the schedule of damage fees, or an AppleCare Plus price for any product launched in September 2026. It has not said whether the lease will be offered outside the United States, and it has not published a monthly lease figure for iPhone 18 Pro above the 256GB tier.
Pre-orders for iPhone 18 Pro open at 5 a.m. PT on Saturday, September 12, with delivery from Friday, September 18, and iPhone Duo follows on October 16 and October 23. The lease terms are shown in the checkout itself, so read the end-of-term wording before the clock starts. Our event recap covers everything else Apple confirmed on September 9.