Try Before You Buy? Apple’s Holiday Season Begins with Extended Return Policy

It’s the time of year again when Apple ramps up for the holiday shopping season, and it’s kicking things off with its usual Holiday Gift Guide and extended return policy.

The gift guide doesn’t offer too many surprises. Apple is effectively just promoting the usual product that it thinks may go well under the tree, including the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, Apple Watch Series 9, and M3 MacBook Pro — highlighted in the fetching new Space Black, naturally.

However, it’s a one-stop shopping page that also shows you which products qualify for free engraving and includes some more affordable “quick picks” that could serve as standalone gifts or stocking stuffers for the Apple fan in your life, depending on who you’re buying for and how much you’re planning to spend.

Extended Returns Now Available

Throughout the year, you can return most products purchased at an Apple Store within 14 days of purchase for a full, no-questions-asked refund. However, during the holiday season, Apple offers a considerably more generous return window to help you be confident in whatever Apple product you plan to put under the tree.

From today until December 25, eligible products bought from Apple’s online store and retail stores can be returned until January 8, 2024. Essentially, Apple is giving you a 14-day return policy from Christmas Day — the point at which your gift will presumably be opened by the recipient.

Eligible products at the Apple Store Online that are received between November 3, 2023 and December 25, 2023, may be returned through January 8, 2024. Please note that all other terms and conditions provided in the Apple Store Online Sales and Refunds Policy are still applicable with respect to such products purchased. iPhone purchases that are carrier-financed with T-Mobile are not eligible and are subject to standard return policy. All purchases made after December 25, 2023 are subject to the Standard Return Policy.

For the most part, anything purchased at an Apple Store that’s eligible for the standard 14-day return policy also falls under the extended return policy.

The key exception to this rule is iPhone purchases that are carrier-financed through T-Mobile, which still come under the standard 14-day return policy.

Other items that aren’t eligible for return at all are generally more obvious and include opened software, electronic software downloads, Apple Gift Cards of any kind, Apple Developer products, and Apple Print products. Packaged software can still be returned if it’s unopened.

Products purchased after December 25 are subject to Apple’s standard return policy, but that’s still 14 days, which means it will take you beyond January 8, anyway. Apple is also offering slightly longer return windows in countries that have an extended holiday season by including later holidays such as Epiphany. As MacRumors notes, in Italy, Spain, Turkey, Mexico, and Japan, customers will have until January 20, 2024 to return any products purchased between now and January 6, 2024.

For purchases from the Apple Store Online, It’s also worth noting that Apple’s policy explicitly says “eligible products that are received between November 3, 2023 and December 25, 2023.” This means if you ordered a new M3 MacBook Pro right after the Scary Fast event earlier this week, you’ll still be covered as these aren’t shipping until next week.

Try Before You Buy?

Although Apple’s Holiday Return Policy is primarily aimed at ensuring any gifts you give can be returned should the recipient not be happy with them, it’s also an excellent opportunity to get an extended trial of an Apple product that you may be considering.

You still have to purchase the product up-front, so it’s not strictly a “before you buy” scenario, but you can pick up a new MacBook or iPad and try it out for a few weeks to really put it through its paces without making a long-term financial commitment, since if it doesn’t meet your needs you can still return it for a full refund.

Of course, Apple is very confident that most folks will love its products, which is why it offers such a generous holiday return policy, but it also wants to make sure nobody is stuck with something that isn’t working out for them.