Apple Care for iPhone

[Pa]

Apple is trying to sell me Apple Care+ for my new iPhone SE. The prices is $3.99/mo or $79. But they don't say how long it is covered for the $79. I tried to chat with an agent at Apple Support, but she didn't know the answer.

Additionally, it says if you buy the plan they'll fix a cracked screen for $29. But they don't say how much it would cost if you don't have Apple Care.

Do any of you know the answers to these questions?

I can't decide if it is worth it otherwise.

 

[Walter Rowe]

Apple devices come with 1 year warranty. Apple Care+ adds 2 additional years for a total of 3 years. I purchase Apple Care for all my Apple devices. I cannot speak to the screen repair costs. I know I have spent $80 or so using a third party to fix it so I'd guess Apple's cost is somewhere in that ball park without Apple Care. The question to ask is whether "self insuring" (paying out of pocket) vs Apple Care+ makes more sense for you.

 

[Pa]

Thanks for responding, Walter.

Does the one-year warranty include screen repair for $29?

So $79 just covers two years past the one-year additional. I don't think it's worth it to me.

 

[Panther]

Check your carrier's insurance policy and then compare.

 

[gnagel]

I have always elected to self insure my Apple products. Even so, whenever I've had an issue with my phone or Airpods, the Apple Store has fixed them for free (outside of the one year warranty). Of course, those issues related to software or general maintenance (interior cleaning) and not replacements of components.

Glenn

 

[Pa]

Check your carrier's insurance policy and then compare.

Carrier doesn't seem to have one. At least I find nothing about it online.

I have always elected to self insure my Apple products. Even so, whenever I've had an issue with my phone or Airpods, the Apple Store has fixed them for free (outside of the one year warranty). Of course, those issues related to software or general maintenance (interior cleaning) and not replacements of components.

Glenn

Thanks, Glenn. Nearest Apple Store for me is about 150 miles away.

My wife and I had refurbished iPhone 6 devices for 3 years and they still work fine, but of course we're using the newer phones now. The old ones both have cracked screens and we just elected to live with them.

Since I can't get any information from Apple and the phones aren't very expensive anyway I'm not going to bother with Apple Care.

 

[Deleted member 4116]

The cost of a new screen, in general, can range between $80-160 depending on your device. With apple care it's between $29-49 depending on model. Apple care, otherwise, is essentially an extended warranty for the phone like mentioned above. You get 1 year, with apple care it extends another 2 and makes it a 3 year warranty.

I wouldn't buy apple care for screen replacement specifically, only if I was careless and known to constantly drop mine. Knock on wood, but in the 12 years i've owned some sort of apple or smart phone product, i've only cracked one screen and I paid the $129 to get it fixed. When my wife broke hers, I bought a kit on amazon and it was much easier than I expected.

 

[7006]

An area where it might be worth is for issues that crop up after the end of warranty, such as battery or other design flaws.
Having Apple Care provides a fast path to resolution, usually.

 

[Allan]

The only Apple device I get Apple Care on is the MBP. The way the drive, processor, and memory are all together makes a "simple" repair turn into a comprehensive, expensive repair.

 

[Deleted member 4116]

An area where it might be worth is for issues that crop up after the end of warranty, such as battery or other design flaws.
Having Apple Care provides a fast path to resolution, usually.

Design flaws and battery issues usually get taken care of even outside a warranty so I wouldn't buy apple care specifically for that. They found an issue in the 6 and 6s with the battery and instead of the normal $129 or whatever it was $29 to replace it even if you didn't have the issue. Apple is pretty good about taking care of customers even outside of warranty.

My G5 back in 2008 had an issue with overheating and it was because of the cooling system inside failing. I was out of AC by about 3 months but because the cooling system was a known failure point, they not only replaced it but also the board, processors, memory and other pieces because the overheating could have affected those as well. All zero cost to me, but $3k in parts if replaced otherwise.

 

[Clix Pix]

I always put AppleCare/AppleCare + on my devices when buying them -- provides peace and mind and also I feel it is important with devices which I am going to be carrying around and using both at home or away from home. The iPhone goes almost everywhere with me, and I use my iPad and computers both at home and when traveling.

Years ago I had the first-generation Mac Pro and it developed some sort of problem with the Logic Board; it would have cost me a pretty penny for that replacement, but AppleCare covered everything that needed to be done. To me, yes, AppleCare is worth it.