Apple just gave you a new way to own an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch without buying it. The newly launched Apple Upgrade program lets you lease Apple hardware through Klarna instead of paying full price upfront, and I’ll admit that the monthly numbers genuinely look tempting.
I went through Apple’s own published rates device by device to figure out where this actually saves you money, and where it’s just a slower way to pay full price for something you’ll never own.
Apple Upgrade relies on Klarna as the lease provider. Applying for a device only triggers a soft credit check. To apply, you need to be 18 or older, a US resident, verified by SMS, and carrying an eligible credit/debit card, along with your Social Security number.
As part of the program, iPhones and Apple Watches are leased over 12 or 24 months, while iPads and Macs stretch to 24 or 36 months.
Eligibility covers most current models, except the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, Apple Watch SE, MacBook Neo, Mac mini, the base iPad, and Studio Display.
iPhones also require an active AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon plan, though the phone itself ships unlocked. AppleCare+ isn’t bundled anymore; it’s billed separately.
Once the lease ends, you actually have three options based on what you want to do with the device: return and upgrade, pay to own, or walk away empty-handed.
Apple gives you up to six months after your term ends to decide. If you do nothing, Klarna automatically charges that purchase-option fee on your behalf.
Let’s consider the iPhone 17e at $599 on a lease-and-return basis. If you lease it for 24 months and pay $17.99 a month, you’ll hand over roughly $432 total before sending the phone back. Basically, you never owned anything; you just rented it for two years.
If you decide to keep the phone instead, you’ll pay the difference, roughly $165 to $170 more on the 17e. Add that to your lease payments, and the total lands right around $599, the exact price you’d have paid on day one had you purchased the iPhone outright.
To me, that’s where Apple Upgrade’s real appeal lies. It gives you the flexibility to spread out the cost, keep your cash available for other priorities, and still have the option to own the device later. However, I think the program makes far more sense for expensive Pro models than entry-level iPhones, where the upfront cost is easier to justify.
Given that buyers tend to keep their iPads longer than iPhones, Apple provides longer tenure options to lease them: 24 or 36 months. If you’re a student or an entry-level professional who simply wants an iPad for studies or getting done with the day-to-day digital chores, going for the lease makes good sense.
For one, you’ll save the $599 (for the iPad mini) or the $749 (for the iPad Air) you’ll spend upfront, pay $11.99 or $15.99 per month over 36 months, and then, depending on whether you need those devices, can either pay the difference or simply upgrade to the latest one without paying any additional money.
Again, there are no discounts here: just ease of usage.
If you don’t have that kind of money upfront but still want to upgrade from an old Intel-based MacBook or even an M1- or M2-powered MacBook Air, the Apple Upgrade program breaks that upfront cost into monthly installments starting at just $24.99 over 36 months.
However, there’s another side to this. The M5 family of chips offers enough performance headroom to stay relevant for the next four to five years, which is why I expect these MacBooks to hold their resale value exceptionally well.
That’s why I’d stretch the payments over the full 36 months and then pay the remaining amount to keep the MacBook. Unlike an iPhone, a MacBook is something that I’d comfortably hold on to for four or five years, choosing long-term ownership over upgrading.
I’d personally say that it makes more sense to buy the Apple Watch instead of leasing it.
First, the Apple Watch upgrade trajectory hasn’t really been on an upward path lately. For most users, the Series 10 is going to serve the same purpose as the Series 11. With a new release around the corner, you can generally find the outgoing models at a decent discount.
Take me as an example: I’ve been using the Watch Series 8 for three years now, and I don’t really feel like upgrading. The upfront cost isn’t as much as a Pro iPhone or MacBook Air either.
Are you tired of paying for streaming services you never watch just to get a phone plan feature you actually want? T-Mobile has good news for you! The carrier is rolling out new plans, called T-Mix, in early November to replace its old Experience lineup with a build-your-own perks system called Picks.
The benefits you choose vary from streaming and gaming to food delivery, AI, satellite service, and phone discounts. But if you are satisfied with your existing plan, you can keep it.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.