Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program expected to drive annual demand for new iPhones

“Apple Inc. has just made buying a new iPhone every year more affordable – a move that analysts said will drive demand from now on, starting with the new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus,” Tenzin Pema and Devika Krishna Kumar report for Reuters. “Apple announced a program on Wednesday that will allow users to finance unlocked versions of the new iPhones through monthly installments starting at $32, regardless of carrier.”

“‘We think this program should act as a tailwind for iPhone sales, since they serve to shorten the replacement cycle…,’ Susquehanna analysts wrote in a note on Thursday,” Pema and Kumar report. “The deal for iPhone owners, which will initially apply to the United States and 11 other key markets including China, emerged as one of the most positive announcements at Apple’s annual launch event.”

“Along with the new iPhones – which come with better cameras, faster chips, new colors and a force-sensitive ‘3D Touch’ – Apple also unveiled a bigger iPad and a new TV set-top box that responds to voice commands,” Pema and Kumar report. “The new products got tepid response from investors, though, with commentators saying Apple had failed to deliver a truly transformative product that would merit a surge in its stock.”

MacDailyNews Take: Moron commentators.

Pema and Kumar report, “Apple’s shares also fell on Sept. 9 last year when the company rolled out the iPhone 6 to lukewarm reviews.”

MacDailyNews Take: Exactly. The world’s best selling smartphone in history as rolled out to “lukewarm reviews.” Stupidity knows no bounds in certain quarters. Record iPhone 6 sales will only be eclipsed by sales of iPhone 6s.

Apple's new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus
Apple’s new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus

 
Pema and Kumar report, “Analysts say there’s still plenty of room for sales to grow, particularly with the new incentive program. ‘We view it as the right strategy at the right time,’ FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives told Reuters, noting that less than 30 percent of customers have upgraded to an iPhone 6.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: A new 12-month upgrade cycle for the world’s bestselling product. Any “analyst” who doesn’t see what’s coming is blind. With Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program, the iPhone knockoff peddlers who’re shackled to the fragmandroid insecurity joke are hating life even more right now, if that’s even possible!

SEE ALSO:
Apple’s annual iPhone Upgrade Plan is a game-changer – September 10, 2015
Apple takes aim at the carriers with annual iPhone Upgrade Program – September 10, 2015
How Apple’s annual iPhone Upgrade Program works and how much it costs – September 9, 2015

22 Comments

      1. Thanks. I just figured out that this program costs LESS than paying CASH NOW for the iPhone + AppleCare Plus + sales tax. But note you can only get it at a physical Apple Store – not online – beginning Saturday morning. In a year you can pay the last 12 payments at once, own the 6S Plus iPhone and begin a new Apple Upgrade agreement for the iPhone 7 Plus.😱💥😍🎉👀👌

      1. Yes it is. The Apple website is not going to get you in the iPhone Upgrade Program queue. Physically in an Apple Retail Store is required to prove you’re you. So early Saturday Morning at an Apple Retail Store is going to be the thing you’ll need to do to get an iPhone 6S/Plus Friday September 25. Any delay on your part will add weeks if not months to your delivery date.

      1. According to Apple “the iPhone upgrade program is financed through Citizens One Personal Loans. Subject to eligibility.”

        So there certainly will be a credit check. There’s no way Apple will let anyone with a just a credit card walk out with a $650+ phone after making one $32.41 payment. It’s not like Apple has repo men to find you and take your phone.

  1. I’m currently on AT&T unlimited plan with 4 lines of service (wife/kids). I use what ever upgrade is available (the cost of being on my plan :)) I then give the 1 year old phone down to the wife. Then one of the kids gets the wife’s. With this new plan i’m not going to be able to do that. That sucks!!! Also what happens if you keep the phone for 24 months and want a new one? how much do you get for it? Where do you start in the payment plan? Is it payment 13 or do you have to star over and just keep the phone?

    1. You sign up for 24 payments. If you want to keep the iPhone you pay off the balance of 24 payments to fulfill your contract to own the iPhone. Then you start a new 24 month contract with the new iPhone. The payments total LESS than if you paid cash for the iPhone plus tax and AppleCare Plus now.😱😜🎉💥👌

  2. This shows how desperate Apple is to suck as much money out of iPhone before sales collapse and buyers widen up to how mediocre the iPhone is. Tim “apple Ballmer” Cook’s Apple releases crap and calls it innovation. I’d expect this from Microsoft. Then again the Microsft that Steve Jobs said had no taste or vision was really the Apple of today.

  3. I can see from these comments that Apple has a lot of educating to do with this plan.

    For a base 6S you pay $32.41 per month and agree to 24 months of payments, then you pick your own carrier and plan because the phone is UNLOCKED. At the end of 24 months you’ve paid $777.84 and you OWN the phone.

    OR…after 12 payments you can give the phone back to Apple and start a new 24 month payment period. The payment should stay the same if Apple keeps iPhone pricing steady.

    To buy a 6S outright and get AppleCare+ = $649 + $130 = $779 + sales tax.

    Let’s say you do that and want to get a new phone each year. To equal the Apple deal you’d have to clear $390.08 when you sell your 6S. You might do that, you might not. I don’t know the market price for 1 year old iPhones. I’ve sold 2 year old phones when off-contract and cleared close to $300 so maybe that’s doable.

    For the average person who isn’t an eBay warrior, Apple is offering what looks like a decent deal. And with the phone being unlocked your service becomes a fungible product. Constantly shop around for the best deal and watch the carriers race their prices to the bottom. Eliminating subsidies turns carriers into the dumb data pipes they should have always been.

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