Apple Upgrade, a hardware leasing programme provided by Klarna, launched in the United States on 28 July 2026, putting iPhone on a monthly lease starting at $17.99 — and Apple will lower that payment if you hand over a Samsung or Pixel at sign-up. For Android owners in the US that makes this a switching offer as much as an Apple financing story. It also replaces the iPhone Upgrade Program, and the fine print is where the real terms live.
What Apple Upgrade costs
Apple’s newsroom lists these entry prices and terms for the US:
- iPhone — from $17.99 per month, 12- or 24-month lease
- Apple Watch — from $11.99 per month, 12 or 24 months
- iPad — from $11.99 per month, 24 or 36 months
- Mac — from $24.99 per month, 24 or 36 months
It is available on the Apple Store online, in the Apple Store app and at Apple Store locations in the US. Klarna handles approval, which Apple says takes minutes and involves a soft credit inquiry that will not impact your credit score. There is no security deposit. Apple Card holders earn 3 percent Daily Cash on lease payments, and AppleCare can be added as a subscription.
Karen Rasmussen, Apple’s vice president of the Apple Store online, said in the announcement that the company is “thrilled that Apple Upgrade offers our customers, both online and in-store, a more flexible way to pay for the products they love.”
The Android trade-in hook
The detail that matters on this side of the fence: enrolling customers can lower their monthly payment by trading a device in through Apple Trade In, and Apple’s trade-in page states you can trade in “many Apple and third-party devices, including Samsung and Google smartphones, for a trade-in credit or an Apple Gift Card.” Apple’s footnotes are specific that a trade-in device “may reduce monthly payments” and that the advertised monthly figure may not already include a trade-in’s estimated value — so $17.99 is the starting point before an Android handset is handed over, not after.
One US-specific catch that Android switchers should note before doing the maths: to lease an iPhone you must select an eligible carrier — AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon — and you cannot use a prepaid plan. That rules out the prepaid and MVNO tier where a lot of budget-conscious Android users sit. The leased iPhone itself is always unlocked, so carrier switching later is allowed subject to the carrier’s own terms.
What $17.99 a month is actually buying
A lease is a rental, not a purchase or a loan, and Apple’s own footnotes are blunt about what that means. Apple’s worked example: an iPhone 17 Pro 256GB with a purchase price of $1,099 leases at a typical $31.99 per month over 24 months, or $45.99 per month over 12. Twenty-four payments of $31.99 is $767.76 — roughly 70 percent of the phone’s retail price — and at the end of it, in Apple’s wording, “You will not own your device at the end of your lease, unless you pay the purchase fee.” Apple does not publish what that purchase fee is.
The rest of the terms are worth reading before the monthly number does its work on you. Apple states you “may incur substantial fees” if you terminate a lease before the end of the initial term. If you do nothing at the end of the term, the lease converts to month-to-month for up to six months, and Apple warns that monthly payments may increase during those month-to-month periods; take no action after that extension and you are charged the purchase fee anyway. Insurance is not included, and damage fees can apply if the device is lost, stolen or not returned in the required condition. Apple also states that “Upgrades are not guaranteed and are subject to eligibility and approval,” and that a new lease may cost more per month than the old one.
None of that is unusual for a lease — it is what a lease is. The point is that comparing $17.99 a month against a carrier’s 24-month device credit or a Samsung instalment plan is not a like-for-like comparison. One route ends with a phone you own and can sell or hand down; this one ends with a device you send back, or a bill. That is a structurally different deal being presented with a smaller-looking number, and it is a credit product from a buy-now-pay-later lender wired straight into Apple’s checkout, with a second Apple financial product (Apple Card) dangled on top for the 3 percent.
The iPhone Upgrade Program is finished
Apple confirms in the same release that with the launch of Apple Upgrade it will no longer offer the iPhone Upgrade Program or iPhone Payments in the United States. Existing members, when eligible, can move to an Apple Upgrade lease, switch to Apple Card Monthly Installments, buy outright, or take carrier financing. For an Android user who had the iPhone Upgrade Program pencilled in as the clean way across, that route has closed — the replacement is a lease, and leases are only available to US residents excluding US territories, aged 18 or over, with an SSN or ITIN and a Klarna account.
Apple describes Apple Upgrade as a United States launch and the release names no other market.
