Apple’s 2024 Back to School Promo Expected to Launch This Week

Apple Education iPad lifestyle Credit: Apple
Text Size
- +

Toggle Dark Mode

Apple is again preparing to launch its annual “Back to School” promotions for customers in the US and Canada, providing additional perks for students planning to pick up a new Mac or iPad for the fall.

Although Apple offers educational discounts for many of its products year-round, its back-to-school sales provide additional bonuses for students or teachers buying Macs and iPads.

At one time, Apple gave away free AirPods and Beats headphones with the purchase of a new MacBook, but in recent years it’s switched to providing gift cards instead. Those are arguably a better deal in terms of flexibility — you can always use them to buy AirPods if you really want to — although the dollar amounts aren’t quite the same as they used to be.

This Limited-Time Microsoft Office Deal Gets You Lifetime Access for Just $39

Sick and tired of subscriptions? Get a lifetime license for Microsoft Office Home and Business 2021 at a great price!

For example, in 2015, you could get a free $200 set of Beats headphones (the Beats Solo 2 in those days), which got scaled down to the $159 AirPods in 2020 and then to a flat $150 gift card in 2022.

There’s no word yet on what this year’s educational deals will be, although we’ll likely find out soon, as Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says it’s launching this week.

In his Power On newsletter, Gurman said he believes the emphasis this year will be to “attract attention to the iPad,” with the new M2 iPad Air and M4 iPad Pro models having launched last month — although it’s not known if the new models will be part of the deal. He also says Apple hopes it will help “work through its inventory of old Macs” before the fall debut of new M4-powered models.

Apple’s back-to-school promotion is nearly here. We’re heading into summer, and that means it’s almost time for Apple’s annual back-to-school promotion. Last year, Apple launched the program just after its Worldwide Developers Conference in early June, but I expect this year’s version to debut a little bit later in the month. It’s an important one for Apple, which needs to work through its inventory of old Macs before an end-to-end overhaul of the lineup debuts with M4 chips.Mark Gurman

Over the past two years, Apple’s Back to School promotions have offered a $150 gift card with the purchase of an eligible Mac or a $100 gift card with the purchase of an eligible iPad. Apple included the M2 MacBook Air models in its 2022 promotion, which had been announced only a few days earlier but hadn’t yet gone on sale. There’s hope it will follow suit with the new iPad Air and iPad Pro models this year, but the M3 MacBook Air launched in March should be included.

Apple began running ads for its Back to School campaign earlier this month, with some spotted on Canadian social media showing gift card values of “up to $200.” Factoring in the exchange rate suggests Apple will offer the same maximum $150 gift card values that it has for the past two years.

The perks offered by Apple’s Back to School promotion are in addition to the educational discounts already available on Macs, iPads, and related accessories, which typically work out to around 10% off the normal price. The iPhone is excluded from Apple’s educational discounts and hasn’t been part of its Back to School promotions since 2014.

Last year’s Back to School Promotion launched in early June, right after its Worldwide Developers Conference; however, it’s much more commonly arrived in the third week of June, so it sounds like we’re back on that schedule this year. It will likely run until September to give students (and parents) lots of time to consider which new Mac or iPad they should get for the fall school year.



[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]

Sponsored
Social Sharing