Apple raises AppleCare+ price to $129 and service fee to $99 for iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, up from $99 and $79
Husain Sumra / MacRumors :
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's 2015 decision to lift AppleCare+ to $129 and the damage service fee to $99 for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus reads differently now than it did at launch: it was the first step in what became a repeating cycle. Two years later Apple raised the same plan again, moving Plus iPhones from $129 to $149 (the 2017 AppleCare+ increase) while pushing the top-tier iPhone X to $199.
The pattern has since extended beyond phones — Apple repriced AppleCare+ across Macs and iPads in mid-2026, again confined to new sign-ups — while out-of-warranty repair pricing moved in parallel, with the iPhone 16 Pro battery replacement fee up 20% to $119. In between, Apple restructured the product itself toward unlimited accidental-damage repairs subject to per-incident fees, converting a capped two-claims-a-year policy into a metered one.
First-order effects
- Buyers of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus face a higher entry cost for coverage ($129 vs. $99) and pay 25% more per accidental-damage claim ($99 vs. $79), raising the all-in cost of owning the new devices at purchase time.
Second-order effects
- With both the premium and the per-claim fee climbing together, each subsequent incident makes self-insurance (paying out-of-warranty repair rates) relatively more attractive, pressuring the plan's attach rate unless perceived value keeps pace.
Third-order effects
- The decade-long sequence — 2015's hike, the 2017 increase, the 2022 shift to unlimited-but-metered repairs, and the 2026 Mac/iPad repricing — points to AppleCare+ operating as a recurring revenue annuity that Apple reprices upward with each hardware generation rather than a fixed-cost insurance product.
The trend: Apple is steadily converting device protection into a rising recurring revenue line, with both premiums and per-incident fees ratcheting up across generations and product categories.