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- Hacker News
- > In order to lease an iPhone, you must select one of the following carriers (but you cannot use a prepaid carrier plan):
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I suppose I'll keep buying my phones outright... no protection money to the carrier mafia == no lease.
by alexjplant - Apple = Landlord
You = Tenant
Stay poor, or just buy a basic phone, uninstall useless attention economy apps and live better.
- No thank you….by Danox
- Then it is not a status symbol anymore.by amelius
- Yup, exactly like luxury cars no longer are status symbols because they're leasable.
- July 28th news OP;
Discussion on source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49087306
- I use Klarna all the time but I always felt that it’s more suited for fast fashion, Shein, Aliexpress etc kind of like sites. Apple giving them a huge business here selling millions of iPhones.by thrownawaysz
- Makes sense here, then. Apple is primarily a luxury fashion company.by kibwen
- At the same time T-Mobile just announced they're finally going out to 36 month installment agreements on phones.
https://www.t-mobile.com/news/un-carrier/eip-flex-36
... though curiously, out of all the carriers, T-Mobile is now the first to start charging anywhere from 0% to 24% APR on their installment plans based on creditworthiness. I assume this is a signal that the era of 0% APR installments from carriers is going to start to disappear as well.
Sprint also got sued a few times over for offering leasing for cellphones - I wonder when the first lawsuits against Apple and Klarna are going to strike as well when consumers realize what they fell for.
by kotaKat - Apple is obsessed with making sure you don't have control over anything, it's really really weird. It started with "no root access for you, only us" and now this.by exabrial
- Because if you don't own it nothing on it is monopoly anymore. You are allowed to use it the "intended" way.by LunicLynx
- The biggest enemy of Apple's upgrade cycle is a rugged phone caseby anizan
- Apple is introducing this now because hardware capability ceilings are being hit and component prices are preventing higher specced components from being used.
I buy a new (non apple) phone most years, but I'll probably skip the next 2 years due to flatlining of specs and increasing price.
by xnx - The next few upgrade cycles for Apple will be about enabling AI functionality through an increase in ram. So if people want AI, they’ll have to get a new phone.
- They’re introducing it because most people are short-term thinkers and would be happy in many cases (10%-25%) to lease. No matter how many times you say don’t do it.
11 Pro iPhone user…
by Danox - If you don't mind me asking, why do you buy one new phone every year?
- Agreed, there is very little happening from generation to generation. Yes, the 17 Pro had a redesign and better thermals, but was very boring otherwise. I don't really see why non-enthusiasts with a 14/15/16 Pro would upgrade.
The 17 was a good step up, but it's hard to cheer for finally getting a 120Hz display, while 300-400 Euro Android phones had them for a few years already.
The iPhone Air was the only really interesting model. But with only one camera and high introduction price, I don't think it was a failure in the market. Samsung had a similar problem with the S25 Edge - fewer cameras, but priced near the Ultra (the Air/Edge are a steal at the current pricing of 880/520 Euro, if you can live with the battery life).
I'd love to see more actually meaningful features. While the Samsung privacy display of the S26 Ultra may not have been perfect the first iteration, it's a innovative feature that is useful to a lot of people. (No, a privacy screen protector is not the same, I want to see most apps with the full flagship display glory.)
Another issue is that the pricing barely gets reduced over the year, while you can already get an S26 for just over 600 Euro.
by microtonal - For what it’s worth, it’s lease to own:
> At the end of your initial lease term, you can do one of the following:
> Upgrade and return your current device. Footnote ◊
> Leave the program and return your current device. Footnote ◊
> Buy the device outright with a one-time payment from your Klarna account.
by cautiouscat - I typically buy the newest model outright with a trade-in. Curious if this'll be cheaper. Probably not.
Might see if this pencils out for work uses - easier to establish and budget a boring lease program than have purchases of phones and laptops scrutinized.
by 9x39 - Slightly mixing up programs there - the initial statement ("your loan will be closed") applies to customers of the current "iPhone Upgrade Program" which is now being replaced by the new lease program via Klarna.
The new program, at the end of the initial lease term, will switch to an extended 6 month month-to-month lease; then at the end of that if you have still not acted, Klarna will charge the remaining buyout amount.
> For an iPhone 17 Pro 256GB with a purchase price of $1099 (excluding taxes and any trade-in credit), the typical monthly payment is $31.99 (excluding taxes and any trade-in credit) for a 24-month lease term and $45.99 (excluding taxes and any trade-in credit) for a 12-month lease term.
Riding out a 12 month term, you'll have paid in $551.88. Buyout at that point is $547; ride out the next 6 months month-to-month another $45.99/mo and Klarna will then ding you $271 and close it all out. I assume this is how they're going to avoid any kind of possible "paying more than the cost of the phone" shenanigans from a perpetual lease.
by kotaKat - What is more positive about it is just that there’s no interest or money factor.
I do think it is ultimately an effort to shorten upgrade cycles. Lower the monthly payment enough and keeping the same payment will look appealing to many customers.
From a positive perspective, I think it’s preferable to trade-in programs if you were planning to do that sort of thing, and I think it wrestles a little bit of control back from carriers who have been very aggressive about upgrade deals that end up locking people in (even though there’s no “contract,” the effect is the same, since you lose your bill credits if you switch providers before the term is up).
by Grombobulous