Comment by threetonesun
2 days ago
Higher tier devices have higher AppleCare+ costs, so a Macbook Pro + iPad Pro + iPhone Pro = just short of $300 a year, if I did the math right. Also if you're someone who travels a lot or loses things this seems slightly better.
I've personally never had AppleCare on anything (even phones).
Financially speaking, you shouldn't insure what you can afford to repair or replace, unless you're well above average risk for some reason. Of course, peace of mind is an emotional calculation that may come out differently.
> Financially speaking, you shouldn't insure what you can afford to repair or replace, unless you're well above average risk for some reason.
I know that my MacBook and phone batteries wear out (<80%) pretty quick, and a single free replacement with AppleCare would pretty much let me break even on cost.
Weird. Must be unusual, otherwise AppleCare would cost more.
Right, although repair with Apple devices is a tricky/impossible cost calculation to make. I also remember the "good old days" when you could bring an iPhone with issues into the store and likely get a replacement just by asking nicely.
They still do that. I just replaced my 15 Pro which had a speaker problem. They gave me a brand new one and migrated everything there in the store for me. 100% battery health again. No money paid. Nearly 2 years old.
I turned screws in an Apple Store in that era, circa iPhone 3G/4.
Internally that policy was called “getting to yes” and it was a huge pain in the ass.
The idea: customer comes in with a broken screen. You surprise and delight them by getting a manager’s override on the cost. You say you can make an exception because it’s the first time, but the next screen will cost x.
The reality: customer comes in expecting free repairs. Any charge is an argument. Their cousin dropped like 5 phones in the toilet and they were all replaced for free, etc. It sucked.
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That’s not how risk management works.
For an individual it kind of is. To calculate the financial value of an insurance plan you would multiply the average cost of a claim by the probability of it occurring, and divide that by the average expected number of months until claim. For all insurance, the monthly fee is more expensive than the calculation above. This is obvious, because the insurance company needs to make a profit. This implies that no one should ever have insurance. *However,* some events are quite financially catastrophic, and the potential size of the financial burden warrants paying the premium. Examples include houses and cars. Most people can't afford to pay out of pocket if a house burns down.
In the realm of consumer electronics, why would you pay the premium if you can afford to replace the device? Unless, of course, you know you're prone to losing or breaking things.
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What wat points out is that if you have the finances to replace a device yourself at any point in time due to an _unlikely_ event, it's just a waste to pay a third party for the insurance if _you can handle the risk yourself_.
Applecare+ for an iPhone seems to run at about 80% of the device cost over 5 years, however if you were likely to buy a new device after 5 years anyhow then short of fully losing your new devices every 2.7 years (or replacing the screen every 8 months or so) you're at a financial loss to go with the insurance compared to just buying new devices when the need arises.
That's how I think about it as well. How should I be thinking about it?
Care to elaborate? There's some wiggle room with "afford" which should make it exactly how risk management works.
The liquid protection is nice. I never had it either because the only thing I was worried about was liquid and I'm quite careful with that, but last year someone spilled apple juice all over my stuff and it was an expensive bill, so I started to get applecare. The other thing is I got my wifes screen replaced in the mall last year and they said they replaced it with OEM apple but no way they did, it was junk, and no way for me to prove they used something that wasn't apple.
I typically get AppleCare on my phone and then get a new screen and battery right before the window is up. AppleCare is cheaper than the cost of those repairs plus I have the added peace of mind that if something bad does happen I have AppleCare. I don’t renew it as part of the monthly plan though.
I also don’t use a case or screen protector on my phone fwiw
The repair market is a pretty horrible disaster zone of stories like that. I popped a 15" MBP screen a few years back and the (£500 paid) replacement lid+screen from a third party had the ghosting problem that was a problem on those. I tried to return it but the seller disappeared. Same with batteries - never last as well as the OEM ones.
If apple put some type of hard enough to copy engraving or watermarking on their stuff, that might help a bit, or a QR code that called back to an apple server that verified it's authenticity, then I could ask the person in the mall to show me it before putting it in. Welcome to HN btw, I like your username a lot.
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... but that's because Apple won't sell original parts to 3rd party repair shops ...
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Did you say liquids ? Our senior Siamese tips over anything full of water, and that zapped the wifey's Mac.
i regret not getting it on my iphone bc the screen cracked and coming from android i had no idea apple would charge nearly half the price of the phone to repair it