Shattering Pleasure - AppleCare Plus now covers unlimited accidental repairs

[Lightwreather]

Summary 

According to MacRumors, AppleCare Plus now includes "unlimited repairs for accidental damage protection." You used to be limited to "two incidences of unintentional damage protection every 12 months," according to an archived version of the AppleCare Plus page from last month.

Before you toss your phone in the air in celebration, though, do note that the service fees and deductibles are still around — a screen or back glass repair will cost $29, while “other accidental damage” will run you $99. Also, Apple’s fine print clearly notes that the damage has to be caused by “unexpected and unintentional events” to fall under AppleCare Plus.

The upgrade to the service isn’t just for the phones Apple announced on Wednesday. You can also get it for the iPhone 13 and iPhone 12, as well as for the rest of Apple’s lineup. Yes, this will also have you covered if you keep accidentally sending your AirPods through the wash, knocking your iPad off the counter, breaking your watch in a fall, or sitting on your MacBook Pro. (It also applies to the Apple TV and HomePod Mini, but I’m hard-pressed to imagine how you’d break a device that mostly just sits around the house.)
However, if you get AppleCare Plus with theft and loss protection, replacements for stolen or misplaced iPhones are still limited to two per year.

The change is also retroactive and comes with no price increase. 

Quotes

Quote

If you’re the kind of person who’s always dropping your phone, AppleCare Plus may have just become a much better deal. As MacRumors points out, the service now covers “unlimited repairs for accidental damage protection.” According to an archived version of the AppleCare Plus page from last month, you used to be limited to “two incidents of accidental damage protection every 12 months.”

Do note that the service fees and deductibles are still around — a screen or back glass repair will cost $29, while “other accidental damage” will run you $99. Also, Apple’s fine print clearly notes that the damage has to be caused by “unexpected and unintentional events” to fall under AppleCare Plus.

The service itself is, perhaps a bit surprisingly, still the same price. (Though that was a recurring theme during Apple’s event on Wednesday). Getting it for a brand-new iPhone 14 Pro will cost $9.99 a month or $199 for two years, the same price it used to cost to cover an iPhone 13 Pro. However, covering the iPhone 14 Plus does cost more than covering the regular iPhone 14 or the iPhone 13: it’s $8.99 a month versus $7.99 a month — or an extra $30 if you buy the two-year plan.

 

My thoughts

So, apple has now decided to upgrade their Premium Support services, and for those who have or intended to get AC+, I'd say this is an absolute win. However, deductibles and service charges still being around are a bit of a disappoint, though I do not expect why'll be going anytime soon. 

So, to klutzes with Apple Care, I say rejoice, your day of salvation is here.

 

Sources

TheVerge

MacRumours

[Roswell]

2 hours ago, Lightwreather JfromN said:

However, deductibles and service charges still being around are a bit of a disappoint

Deductibles are only for user based damage, there’s also no service fees, at least in the US. 
 

Regular repairs stemming from normal use or things like battery replacement cost nothing, no deductible.

[vetali]

Should've been like this from the start. I previously only got AC+ on watches because it was cheap on the watches, and the overall cost of AC+ and the deductible was cheaper than a screen replacement out of pocket. Had to use it once before. Too easy to break them in my work environment. Will probably get it on my 14 when it comes due to this change.

[thechinchinsong]

Probably a nice change for those who invest in AppleCare plus. I do wonder if this is part of their strategy to invest more into services to entice more people to getting AppleCare plus. I can imagine for anyone in the Apple ecosystem, the software and services offerings are already pretty decent. Apple One and some of the subscriptions Apple offers can be pretty good and seems better AppleCare is just another cherry on top.

[Jito463]

Do people really break their stuff so often, that twice is year is far too limiting?  Sheesh.

[AnonymousGuy]

7 hours ago, Jito463 said:

Do people really break their stuff so often, that twice is year is far too limiting?  Sheesh.

For realz.  I've never broken a phone because I'm not a retard...let alone twice in 12 months.

[hishnash]

on nice aspect of Apple Care + is in many regions you can extend this, or even opt to just pay a subscription for this you do not need to pay for 3 years upfront if you don't want to.  Not sure for how many years you can just extend and extend but I think for Macs it is until apple label the device as end of life, in the past that has been unto 10 years, this is quite nice that you can in effect buy a 10 year warranty but you do not need to buy it all at once, you can just buy as you see fit (if you do by multi years at once and have N years left when you trade in to apple they pro-rata refund the remainder it back to you as well). 
 

[hishnash]

14 hours ago, Jito463 said:

Do people really break their stuff so often, that twice is year is far too limiting?  Sheesh.

Some people insist on not putting their phone in a case! ... They then get upset with apple for not repairing small scratches under this program,.. just imagine how often people would turn up if this covers scratches. 

[Jito463]

21 hours ago, Jito463 said:

Do people really break their stuff so often, that twice is year is far too limiting?  Sheesh.

You know, upon further reflection I feel I should retract my previous statement of incredulity.  I work at a small computer store, and I can recall two specific cases where we've repaired the broken digitizer on a cell phone, only to have the customer leave and then immediately return because they've already dropped their phone and broken it again.  I realize it's anecdotal, and definitely not something everyone deals with, but I suppose there are those klutzes out there who will continually drop and break stuff.

 

**cough** Linus **cough**

[TetraSky]

It's great how people are so used to not take care of their devices that they are completely fine buying insurance from the company making the devices, who purposefully make them awful to repair yourself so you have no choice but to go through them, so may as well get the insurance.

 

Cynicism aside, it will be good for people who buy devices for kids (as insane as that is) and people who are careless. More than 2 repairs in a year sounds crazy high to me, but then again my teenage niece broke her iphone's screen (iphone 8) 5 times last year. Meanwhile her younger sibling with an old samsung from 2017 still has an intact screen somehow... I dunno man.