Apple Upgrade: Is Leasing Your Next iPhone Worth It

Apple Upgrade: Is Leasing Your Next iPhone Worth It? should be explained through that lens before any broad claim is made. We'll use the iPhone 17 Pro with 256GB of storage on a one-year lease as an example. For a 12-month lease, your payments would total $551. The piece keeps the context, impact, and follow-up signals in view so readers do not stop at the headline.

What happened

We'll use the iPhone 17 Pro with 256GB of storage on a one-year lease as an example. In the U. S. , the device costs $1,099 upfront, but through Apple Upgrade you can lease it for $45. 99/month for 12 months.

Practical impact for readers

For a 12-month lease, your payments would total $551. 88, which is lower than the $1,099 that you would have spent upfront. However, it is not quite that simple, as you have to choose from one of the three following options after your lease ends:.

Details worth verifying

If you return the iPhone 17 Pro and simply move on from the Apple Upgrade program, then your total cost to own the device would be $551. 88 after 12 months, plus sales tax if applicable. While that is less than paying $1,099 upfront, the catch is that you are no longer in possession of the device after your lease ends and cannot resell it or trade it in.

Who should act or wait

Resale value is a big factor. If you paid $1,099 upfront for the iPhone 17 Pro but resold it for say $650 through a private sale on eBay or Facebook Marketplace after 12 months, then you only spent $450 to own the device for a year, compared to $551 if you leased it through the Apple Upgrade Program for that long. But if you somehow only managed to get $500 for the device in a private sale, then you spent $600 for the device and could have saved a bit of money by opting for the Apple Upgrade program.

What is still unclear

$551. 88 is approximately 50% of the iPhone 17 Pro's price, so Apple is essentially betting that the device will retain more than 50% of its value after one year, in order to ensure that the Apple Upgrade program is profitable. Resale prices for used iPhones can vary significantly, but Apple almost certainly expects to come out ahead.

Source notes

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