With the new Apple Upgrade program in the U.S., you can now lease an iPhone, but is it worth it? The answer is more complicated than a simple yes or no.
We'll use the iPhone 17 Pro with 256GB of storage on a one-year lease as an example. In the U.S., the device costs $1,099 upfront, but through Apple Upgrade you can lease it for $45.99/month for 12 months.
For a 12-month lease, your payments would total $551.88, which is lower than the $1,099 that you would have spent upfront. However, it is not quite that simple, as you have to choose from one of the three following options after your lease ends:
- Return your iPhone.
- Return your iPhone and upgrade to a newer iPhone.
- Buy the iPhone outright by paying an amount equal to the device's retail price minus any lease payments made.
We dive into each of those options below.
Options
Returning the iPhone
If you return the iPhone 17 Pro and simply move on from the Apple Upgrade program, then your total cost to own the device would be $551.88 after 12 months, plus sales tax if applicable. While that is less than paying $1,099 upfront, the catch is that you are no longer in possession of the device after your lease ends and cannot resell it or trade it in.
Resale value is a big factor. If you paid $1,099 upfront for the iPhone 17 Pro but resold it for say $650 through a private sale on eBay or Facebook Marketplace after 12 months, then you only spent $450 to own the device for a year, compared to $551 if you leased it through the Apple Upgrade Program for that long. But if you somehow only managed to get $500 for the device in a private sale, then you spent $600 for the device and could have saved a bit of money by opting for the Apple Upgrade program.
$551.88 is approximately 50% of the iPhone 17 Pro's price, so Apple is essentially betting that the device will retain more than 50% of its value after one year, in order to ensure that the Apple Upgrade program is profitable. Resale prices for used iPhones can vary significantly, but Apple almost certainly expects to come out ahead.
For instance, Apple's trade-in program currently offers $560 for a used iPhone 16 Pro in good condition, and that device was released nearly two years ago. Yet, Apple is effectively "giving you back" only $547.12 on a used iPhone 17 Pro after just one year ($1,099 minus $551.88), so the math unsurprisingly works in Apple's favor.
Keep in mind that the Apple Upgrade program is partly about convenience, as you do not have to deal with reselling your iPhone — not everyone likes to deal with eBay or Facebook Marketplace. That alone might sway some customers towards Apple Upgrade, even if they know there is a chance it is not the most financially optimal decision.
Upgrading to a New iPhone
If you return the iPhone and upgrade to a newer one, the process essentially starts over.
For example, if the iPhone 18 Pro with 256GB of storage were to be offered at the same $45.99/month price, you would pay another $551.88 during the following 12 months. That would bring your total cost to $1,103.76 over two years, and you would still need to return the iPhone 18 Pro or make a final payment to keep it.
If you had purchased both the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro upfront for $1,099 each, the total cost would have been $2,198. If you had managed to resell the devices for $650 each, you would have recouped $1300, lowering your final cost to $898, which would have been less than the $1,103.76 cost of leasing the devices after two years.
Of course, the resale values we have provided are purely hypothetical. There is no way of knowing what a used iPhone will be worth with certainty, but Apple has surely put a lot of research into its leasing prices to ensure that it makes a profit.
Buying the iPhone
If you opt to buy the iPhone outright at the end of your 12-month lease, by paying an amount equal to the device's retail price minus the $551.88 in lease payments made, then you simply owe the remaining $547.12 to Apple's financing partner Klarna. This brings your total cost to $1,099, which is the upfront price of the iPhone 17 Pro.
In this case, you ultimately just purchased your iPhone 17 Pro with interest-free financing by spreading out the $1,099 cost over 12 months.
Is It Worth It?
If you simply want to spend the least amount of money on iPhones over time, buying them upfront and reselling them privately is very likely the best option.
However, the Apple Upgrade program can be worth it for customers who value convenience and predictability. If you want a new iPhone every year or two and want to avoid the hassle of selling your existing iPhone through eBay or Facebook Marketplace, then the program is worth considering if the monthly payments fit into your budget.
The option to buy out the iPhone at the end of the lease is more straightforward. Since the final payment is equal to the original retail price minus the payments already made, Apple Upgrade effectively becomes a 12-month, interest-free financing plan. In this case, you would not have spent any more than you would have upfront.
