Apple to Reportedly Make Changes to AppleCare+ Offers at Retail Stores

Apple is reportedly due to announce changes being made to AppleCare+ and the plans made available at Apple Store retail locations next week.

It’s claimed that Apple will no longer be offering AppleCare+ plans as a one-time, multi-year purchase at Apple Stores starting next week. Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman claims that AppleCare+ will only be offered as a monthly subscription if purchased at a retail location.

Currently, AppleCare+ plans are made available ble as monthly and multi-year subscriptions with fixed pricing terms. For instance, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is made available with a $13.49 monthly AppleCare+ plan or a $269 plan for two years. With this change, customers will no longer be able to purchase the two-year plan in stores when purchasing a new iPhone 16 Pro Max.

With the policy changes due to take effect next week, Gurman does note that AppleCare+ multi-year plans will continue to be made available on Apple’s online store. However, there’s no guarantee whether this may be changed in the future as well.  With this in consideration, customers will still be able to purchase AppleCare+ as a two-year plan for a new device when buying a new device online.

The other thing to consider as of the time of writing is whether or not this policy change will only effect the US. Gurman does not clarify whether the changes being made to AppleCare+ will be a policy change made in the US or if it’ll also affect Canada and other global regions.

Gurman also refrains from reporting on why the policy change is being made. It may be a matter of a lack of adoption from those purchasing new devices at an Apple Store. However, the more likely reason is that Apple intends to use this as a way to boost revenue seeing as though the monthly plan will end up bringing in higher profits.