AppleCare+ Availability for iPhone Extended to One Full Year

Great news for iPhone 7 owners who’ve been on the fence about purchasing additional warranty protection via AppleCare. According to a senior AppleCare advisor, the company has begun offering customers who’ve purchased an iPhone 7 / 7 Plus or an iPhone 6s / 6s Plus, within the last calendar year — up to a full 365 days to opt into purchasing an AppleCare+ protection plan.

Although the company has yet to update the fine print on its website reflecting this change, recent iPhone buyers will be happy to know that they now have much longer than the previously afforded 60 days to decide if they want Apple’s proprietary, extended protection plan, which can be purchased for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, as well as eligible iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models — just so long as the device remains covered by Apple’s standard one-year warranty.

The senior AppleCare advisor, who spoke exclusively to MacRumors, indicated that the time extension applies only to iPhone models, and is retroactive from today — meaning, in other words, that iPhone 6s and 7 models that were purchased new within the past year are exclusively eligible for the extended coverage offered by AppleCare+.

The plan for iPhone 6s and iPhone 7 models will run $129 via Apple directly, which provides an additional year worth of protection, including up to two instances of accidental damage protection, as well as 24/7 customer support by phone. Additionally, Apple’s iPhone SE can now be covered under the AppleCare+ plan for just $99, including the same accidental damage protection, as well as unlimited technical support by phone.

Under the terms of AppleCare+, if you were to require, say, a screen replacement, you’d be eligible for up to two of them per year, for just a $29 service fee; while service covering severe physical damage to other parts of the device can be rendered for a $99 fee. This is an extremely valuable opportunity for customers to protect their device for essentially the duration of its life cycle, and could end up saving them hundreds — if not thousands — of dollars on the out-of-pocket cost for replacement or service fees, should the need arise.

To see if you’re device is eligible, Apple has created a helpful online tool by which users can enter their serial number to verify.

Given that just a single screen service can run between $129 and $149, in and of itself, AppleCare+ — especially for the slippery-handed among us — is actually a fantastic deal. Your wireless carrier, in contrast, can charge as much as $12 per month — or nearly 2.5 times the price for the same two years of coverage. To learn more about AppleCare+ and the many benefits it provides, feel free to check out Apple’s official website.

Will you be purchasing AppleCare+ for your shiny new iPhone 7? Let us know in the comments!