Lease is more

TL;DR: You can now rent a new iPhone for less than what an ad-free Netflix subscription costs per month. Apple’s leasing program lands just as memory-related price hikes ripple across tech, including Apple’s own already-pricey lineup—but it’s still a lot of money for hardware you might not ever own.

What to know: Apple Upgrade is the company’s first consumer hardware leasing program—not a financing option, like the old iPhone Upgrade was. The big benefit: Leasing costs less than buying outright. A base model iPhone 17e, for example, might set you back $17.99 a month on a 24-month lease. That adds up to $431.76 over two years, while the phone’s current retail price is $599. When your lease ends, you can buy the phone by paying off its remaining cost, upgrade, roll onto a month‑to‑month lease for up to six months, or just return it and bid it adieu.

Buy now, pay later platform Klarna provides the lease itself, which won’t do a hard pull on your credit report. Payments are interest free, with no late fees. As for that mysterious iOS code spotted last week, which seemed to allude to leased iPhones with missed payments getting remotely restricted—Apple says that won’t be the case.

Here’s the nitty-gritty:

• You can lease iPhones and Apple Watches for 12 or 24 months; Macs and iPads for 24 or 36.
• Apple Upgrade is US-only for now.
• You have to return the device in “good working condition” or eat a damage fee. (AppleCare+ is available as an add-on, though.)
• You can bail early, but you’ll pay a termination fee (as in, the total of your remaining lease payments). You’ll also have to return the device within 14 days.
• Miss three payments in a row, and the lease will terminate, with the full outstanding balance coming due.

The mutual upside: For Apple, leasing keeps new hardware moving despite price hikes that might otherwise have dented sales—and builds a pipeline of returned units it can refurbish and resell for a profit (one that might outweigh what it loses on leases). For consumers, renting can beat buying an Apple product outright, as it’s cheaper and you can then upgrade once the lease ends. Though you’re spending hundreds on hardware you may never own and forfeit the resale value Apple gear is famous for.

Bottom line: Apple Upgrade makes the company’s products more affordable—at the cost of real ownership. But given that everything else is already a monthly subscription, it might be a bargain many eagerly grab. —WK