If you just shelled out $350 for Apple’s phenomenally sounding HomePod speaker, we have one small bit of advice: Get AppleCare+!
Trust us, HomePod is not a speaker you want to break. And the replacement price without AppleCare+ is absolutely insane.
Apple will charge customers $279 to repair or replace a damanged or broken HomePod. The new HomePod support site reveals that there is no charge if the issue is covered under warranty, AppleCare+, or consumer law. If your issue isn’t covered, you’ll pay an out-of-warranty service fee.
AppleCare+ for the HomePod only costs $39. It gives you two years of coverage from the original purchase date of your HomePod and adds up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage. So if you accidentally dunk your HomePod in the pool, you just pay a $39 service fee to get a new one.
Considering a brand new HomePod costs $350, it makes a lot of sense to only pay $78 for a possible replacement unit in stead of being on the hook for $279 if disaster happens.
HomePod units started shipping out to customers today. Shipping times have already started slipping to 5-6 days out in some locations. You can also pick one up from your local Apple Store.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
3 responses to “Why you should get AppleCare+ for your HomePod”
I would actually say that unless you know you are going to be using the HomePod in some “dangerous” locations paying the $39 bucks is not a good investment. Most people are going to put this in a location and never move it with the chance of accidental damage in 2 years extremely low. Obviously this is a case of “know yourself” (and maybe your family) but in most cases all you would be getting is an extra year of protection of the Speaker not flaking out on it’s own from a hardware defect. And if there is a widespread hardware defect that presents itself after the one-year point that’s going to be a lot of bad press for Apple coming from their most loyal customers. They would make it right regardless.
What about if your cat decides to piss on it? Or, if your children are messing around and knock it off the surface its on? Its not always about just moving it. Its $39…money well spent IMO. Otherwise, if something should go wrong you either have to pay $280 or so to fix it, or you have an expensive doorstop.
Used to be that I would never get AppleCare.
But that was back when I could do my own repairs.
For the last four of five years I always have gotten it. Haven’t needed it, but you know if something goes sideways I know there is just no way I could repair it myself. Not any more.