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Why Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program Is a Bad Deal For Most

Posted by samzenpus on from the bang-for-your-buck dept.

Mark Wilson writes: You may have heard that Apple had a little get together today. There were lots of big launches — the iPhone 6S, the iPhone 6S Plus, and the iPad Pro. Those waiting for an iPhone fix were given quite a lot of get excited about, but like your friendly local drug dealer, Apple has a 'sweetener' to help ensure its customers just keep on coming back for more: the iPhone Upgrade Program which lets you upgrade to a new iPhone every year as long as you keep paying each month. On the face of it, it might seem like a good deal — particularly as the price includes Apple Care — but is that really the case? What Apple's actually doing is feeding the habit of iPhone junkies, keeping their addiction going a little bit longer, and a little bit longer, and a little bit longer. In reality, Apple would like you to perma-rent your iPhone and keep paying through the nose for it. Ideally forever.

4 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. Re: Who cares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, all of Slashdot, then!

  2. Re:Get used to it, this is the future by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Funny

    What we really need is a payment program that will pay for payments.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  3. If this catches on by Marginal+Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If this catches on, I bet the car companies will be doing it soon. Imagine a scheme in which you pay a monthly fee for the use of a car, though you never actually own the car. If they put their minds to it, I bet the car folks could even get people to pay some sort of large, up-front fee for the car they'll never own. (Sweet!) And as an inducement, the deal might include all maintenance, for free. Not only would you save a lot of money that way, you'd never have to worry about replacing the battery. Best part: you never have to buy a car again!

  4. Re:Get used to it, this is the future by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1, Funny

    Dunno... back when I was young and poor, I paid $10/mo for a cheap dialup ISP account (with 200 whopping hours a month access time), and literally *built* my rigs from spare parts and carcasses at the local computer shops (to give you an idea, my very first VGA monitor needed a new capacitor and I still paid $75 for it). Sometimes I'd straight-up barter parts if I stumbled across something useful.

    That's nothing. I used to hunt and skin neighborhood cats to make my own underwear and socks. I literally used their guts for garters.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.