The iPhone doesn’t come cheap. Period. And for those of you who extend your accident prone nature to your handset, the revised AppleCare+ rate is bad news at first sight. It will cost $30 more for giving in an iPhone for repairs on an accidental damage from handling (ADH) claim.
What AppleCare+ means
Breaking it down, all iPhones are backed by a year-long limited warranty on the hardware and 90 days of free technical support. A buyer can shell out $99 and extend the support to cover two years via AppleCare+. This can be done at the time of checking out an iPhone or within 30 days of purchasing it.
Note that the extension of support will still be dated starting from the day of purchase and end after two years are up. So Apple won’t count the original warranty period and complimentary technical help separately.
What’s changed?
The plan accommodates two instances of ADH. But the service fee has been hiked to $79 (plus taxes) which is $30 more than the original $49 charge. Also, as TechCrunch notes, if you’ve ruined your EarPods by dropping it, Apple’s not going to touch that from now onwards.
AppleCare+ for iPad is pegged at $99 too, though ADH claims will cost only $49. Even the iPod touch and iPad classic have made it to the receiving end of this scheme. Customers can extend the warranty and technical support period by two years for $59 and cough up $29 in service fees for ADH repairs.
If you’re wondering whether AppleCare+ is really worth the money you pay for it, let’s just say that the need for it will vary proportionately to how accident prone you are. The spare parts don’t come cheap after all. Fans in the UK, France and Italy, fret not. It’s now open for you too.