Oh! Country specific? Got it. I’ll talk to Apple. Thanks.
Still paying for it on my 2019 16" Macbook Pro and my M2 Air… My last two Macbook Pros (2010 and 2017) died and needed repairs so AC+ will continue as long as they live under my roof… Probably will not renew my 2020 iMac 5k when it expires in 2024.
I disagree with this. Apple’s exhorbitant cost for repairs that they do themselves ensures that the $70/year investment is well spent. Sure I could pay the $500-700 cost to fix my M2 Air, but am I stupid enough to do it?
I’ve bought enough Apple gear in the past 20 years to know that with the failure rates I’ve seen, adding AppleCare wouldn’t have been worth it. Failures seem to occur either when new, and covered by the standard warranty, or after 3 years when the coverage would have stopped anyway. Of course it appears that now you can buy coverage forever, or at least until the unit becomes officially unsupported, but I’m not sure that would matter.
I remember reading an article about a decade ago on laptop failure rates across the industry. The failure rate of the MacBook Air was low enough that if you simply disposed instead of repair a failed MBA in its second or third year, you would be financially better off than buying AppleCare.
Apple’s failure rate is a scorching .666 batting average with my macbook pros since 2010.
10 years ago? that doesn’t really apply to the M series Airs, which are easily 6 - 8 year machines at the minimum. I will give Apple the equivalent of 23 starbucks coffees a year to not care if something happens to it…
I am sure in the future when Macs are only available by subscription, the Apple Care cost will be rolled into the montly payment. ![]()
I’m a few thousand ahead in 2023 dollars as well, but I don’t buy AC as often as I used to. Betting on regression to the mean rather than continued bad luck, I suppose. (Most of the benefit came from early in the 2010s.)
No, early Intel models in that article and pre-butterfly. Personally I managed to avoid the Butterfly era which I am sure helped me a lot. I’m on my 5th laptop since a G4 iBook about 20 years ago. The only failure was with a plastic cased MacBook that got wet. Apple would never cover that one! My daughter at least as recently as 2019 was still using a 2008 aluminum MacBook. I put in a new battery for her that year as its only repair.
Dealing with this now. Just bought three Apple devices this week. For my dad, his iPhone upgrade, I paid for AppleCare+. This will simplify things if a problem develops. He was unable to trade his old phone in because the top edge of the screen was cracked and he never repaired it.
The other two are Apple watch upgrades for the wife and I. No trade-in for our Series 3, unfortunately. We live in Mexico so that complicates things a bit, but service is generally available. Not concerned with damage so much as loss/theft.
I still have monthly AppleCare+ premiums for our two Series 3 watches. I think I’ve paid almost $200 in premiums for each of them since the initial purchase. Not sure if this is justifiable…
I think we (who live in the same country) can now buy AppleCare as a monthly subscription, or as a 3 year once-off payment.
Well that’s a bit sneaky of them.
In the iPhone ordering process, it pops up with this on the product page.
In the Mac ordering process, it brings up this only if you view your ‘bag’.
Only if you actually search for AppleCare+ do you find this…
No wonder I didn’t know about it! Not that I’ve bought anything I would have added it for lately.


