Apple’s decade-old iPhone Upgrade Program is getting replaced, and the shape of what’s coming looks bigger than a simple financing tweak. According to Mark Gurman’s Bloomberg reporting, Apple is set to launch “Apple Upgrade” on Tuesday, July 28, in partnership with buy-now-pay-later company Klarna, a shift that moves Apple from in-house financing to leased hardware backed by a third party.
The mechanics, per Gurman’s reporting, are more specific than early leaks suggested. iPhone and Apple Watch leases would run 24 months, while iPad and Mac leases stretch to 36 months. Customers could pay off the device early, upgrade before the term ends, or return the hardware when the lease closes structured much more like a car lease than the instalment-loan setup Apple has used for the iPhone Upgrade Program since 2015. That distinction matters: installment plans build toward ownership, while a lease means the phone was never fully yours unless you pay to keep it.
Not everything qualifies. The Apple Watch SE, entry-level iPad, iPhone 16, and MacBook Neo are excluded, along with business and education purchases Apple apparently wants this steering customers toward pricier hardware rather than its budget tier. AppleCare+ also won’t be bundled automatically, unlike the current Upgrade Program, and applicants will need to pass a soft credit check.
The bigger story here is timing. I noted back in 2024 that Apple had quietly shelved its own in-house subscription plans for hardware, and this Klarna tie-up looks like the faster, cheaper route to the same destination renting out the ecosystem instead of building the financial infrastructure from scratch. It also lands a month after Apple raised prices across its Mac and iPad lineups over rising memory costs, so positioning Apple Upgrade around “lower monthly payments” reads as a deliberate attempt to soften that blow.
What’s still missing: exact monthly pricing, whether current iPhone Upgrade Program members get migrated over, and how the “additional fees” mentioned for early upgrades or returns will actually work. Apple hasn’t confirmed any of this yet, and until it does Tuesday, the fine print is the part worth watching: a lease that looks cheaper monthly can still cost more than ownership once fees and terms are factored in.
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