Apple is expanding its AppleCare+ monthly plan outside the United States for the first time. It is making it available in Canada, Japan, and Australia as well.
The month-by-month coverage hasn’t launched yet in these countries. However, Apple has revealed that it is coming to these markets in one of its official support documents.
As spotted by MacRumors, the document notes that:
“In the United States, Australia, Canada, and Japan, when you purchase AppleCare+ coverage for your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch, you can choose to pay monthly or pay upfront for 24 months of coverage. (For Apple Watch Edition and Hermes, you can pay upfront for 36 months.) If you paid upfront, you can go to mysupport.apple.com to continue coverage on a monthly basis after the 24 or 36 months is over.”
Customers who opt for monthly AppleCare+ coverage continue to receive it for as long as they’re willing to keep paying. (And as long as Apple will support your device fore repair.) This is different to the previous upfront fixed term customers could buy for Apple devices.
As Apple notes above, you can opt to pay a one-off fee for 24 or 36-month coverage, and then switch to AppleCare+ afterwards should you so wish.
Since AppleCare+ can work out slightly more expensive (for example, the iPhone XR costs $7.99 per month compared to $149 for two years, which breaks down as $6.20 per month), it’s worth doing some rough calculations when you buy to figure out which option is cheaper. The AppleCare+ monthly fee varies depending on which device you choose. Customers can select AppleCare+ options at the point of purchase.
No word on when the monthly AppleCare+ coverage will arrive in other markets around the world.
