Apple opens a new way to pay for its hardware today: Apple Upgrade, a lease-to-own plan financed by the Swedish payments company Klarna. It launches in the United States on July 28, and on the same day Apple stops taking new sign-ups for the iPhone Upgrade Program it has run since 2015.
The shift matters beyond the US, because it shows how Apple is responding to a year of rising device prices — including in the Philippines.
What Apple Upgrade is
A lease is not the same as an instalment plan. With instalments you are buying the device and paying it off. With a lease you pay for the use of it, and at the end you decide whether to buy it, hand it back, or move to a newer model.
| Detail | What Apple and Klarna have confirmed |
|---|
| Launch date | July 28, 2026, United States only |
| Term, iPhone and Apple Watch | Up to 24 months |
| Term, Mac and iPad | Up to 36 months |
| Financing partner | Klarna, with a soft credit check |
| End of term | Return, upgrade, or pay a fee to keep the device |
| AppleCare+ | Not bundled into the monthly payment |
TechCrunch reported that some end-of-lease choices "incur an additional fee," and Apple has not published the fee schedule. Buyers can also settle a lease early.
Not every product qualifies. AppleInsider listed the exclusions: the Apple Watch SE, the entry-level iPad, the iPhone 16 and the MacBook Neo, along with business and education purchases. In other words, the cheapest models in each line — the ones a lease would help most — are the ones left out.
The end of the iPhone Upgrade Program
The older programme is being retired for new customers. MacRumors reported that existing members can stay on it "for the time being," but new sign-ups stop as Apple Upgrade goes live.
There is a real trade-off in that swap. The iPhone Upgrade Program folded AppleCare+ into the monthly figure; Apple Upgrade does not. A lower headline monthly payment that no longer includes accidental damage cover is not straightforwardly cheaper — it is unbundled, and the insurance becomes a separate decision.
Why Apple is doing this now
The backdrop is a memory chip shortage that has pushed component costs up across the industry. Apple has already raised prices in several markets this year, and Filipino buyers have felt it directly: Apple lifted Philippine prices on MacBooks and iPads, taking the 256GB MacBook Neo to ₱49,990, and separately raised the price of Apple Music, iCloud+ and Apple One in the Philippines.
A lease lowers the monthly number without lowering the price. That is a sales tool for exactly this situation: when a device costs more than a customer wants to pay at once, spreading it over 24 or 36 months keeps the purchase in reach — while quietly making "owning" the device optional.
Is Apple Upgrade coming to the Philippines?
No. Apple Upgrade is a United States programme at launch, and neither Apple nor Klarna has announced Philippine availability or a timeline. Apple Card Monthly Instalments, the related US financing option, is likewise not offered here.
What Filipino buyers do have is bank-led instalment financing at Apple's authorised resellers, which is a different arrangement — you are buying the device outright over time, not leasing it. Metrobank advertises 0% instalment for up to 36 months on Apple devices at Apple resellers, and BPI offers up to 36 months at Power Mac Center. Both require a credit card in good standing, which is the practical catch in a market where card penetration is low.
So the useful takeaway for a reader in Manila is not the programme itself but what it signals: Apple now expects buyers to need help absorbing higher prices, and it is willing to change the shape of ownership to keep them buying.
