Unlocked iPhone Apple Card Financing

Abuelmousa wrote:

It’s the only reason to apply for Apple Card for me. With it gone! they just lost another yearly customer.

also I think Apple did this because big three pushed them into this!! The big three lost a lot of business because of this card and now Apple caved!!!

The option is not gone. Its still possible to get Monthly Installments and not use the one of the main 3 carriers. The iPhone´s themselves are not locked to any specific carrier.

I was going to upgrade, but since I have to choose between the three carriers I won’t since I have Visible and it’s great service. Really a disappointment for Apple Card customers and this was a nice benefit to have in the past. I hope they bring it back, I think I will just get a new battery and keep my 12 going strong since the deals aren’t that great.

It's so bad. It should not be this difficult to use an Apple card to buy an Apple product from Apple. Even when select the carrier, you may get a "this plan is ineligible". At this point, the OSs are markedly worse with every update, they charge premium prices, and make it impossible to use their card to buy their product in their store. There is nothing about this that 'just works'. I am so frustrated with Apple that I have no other choice but to purge myself of the ecosystem entirely. Way to entirely disenfranchise a 30 year Apple user.

Apple is more secretive about many business decisions and that’s just how they operate. If that runs counter to your needs and goals, find another manufacturer that better telegraphs their business decisions.

The workaround, since you want to call it that, really opens iPhone up to more merchants. Now you can easily get Apple Card financing from literally any merchant and not just Apple.com/store and Apple Retail stores. This can easily be interpreted as making it easier to use Apple Card for iPhone purchases and thousands of more merchants.

Some Apple Card holders would need to drive 100’s of miles to an Apple Store if they wanted to see the phones first. Now, they can make a purchase at local retailers/carriers that carry iPhones, including Best Buy,

Target, WalMart etc.

The date of the post you’re replying to is literally 6 months old. Things change in retail and the credit card industry and many times overnight. The whole credit card industry is undergoing major changes with reward programs changing, redemption procedures changing and loss of benefits. The fact that an installment plan now requires a few minutes on the phone or a short conversation via chat seems insignificant to the number of Apple Card users that now have benefit of ACMI, when they didn’t before.

In regard to the number of posts. People learned how it works and slightly changed buying patterns. The few that post currently are dredging up old posts and rehashing the same issue, unaware of the opportunities it has opened for so many more cardholders and retailers.

This statement reflects exactly why this was a poor business decision. It’s never a good strategy to disenfranchise customers and potential customers at point of purchase, let alone to adopt the notion, ‘if you don’t like it, move on.’ It tends to negatively impact sales, stock price, and market cap evaluation.

Coincidentally, Apple’s stock is down YTD and Apple has also lost its top spot in market cap eval.

Apple can place restraints on what their representatives can say, as do every employer I’ve ever worked for. When I was an Apple Store Manager the phrase we taught Mac Specialist to use was >Google is your friend.< Meaning, go home and Google your question(s) and the answer is out there. The issue is filtering the real answer from the ads, spam, scams and misinformation. But in my experience come into this community with an open mind and just ask basic questions rather than venting your frustrations.

PS: The Apple Representative you spoke to valued his job. Just Sayn’

photonut63 wrote:

I missed this change and just found out in store. Was going to update phone. No thank you Apple. I can spend in Apple Store and get free Apple Card financing on most all other Apple products but, only on iPhone if you use select carrier?? I call BS. That is ridiculous. We use those carriers also when you are consumer cellular or some of the other 3rd parties. I will stop using that card at all unless they change that if that’s the case. One of their biggest selling points for Apple Card was that option on EVERYTHING Apple. Forcing people to select primary carriers when all of them resale and people are still on them.

Clearly you did not read the thread. Please go back and read the read to understand how the AppleCard monthly Installments works and that you can use any carrier you wish.

Here it is again for your infoemation:

Jeff Donald wrote:



You do have to pick a provider among AT&T, t-mobile and Verizon), or purchase an unlocked iPhone. Picking a provider does not require an account or activation and the device will not be locked. If you go this route I recommend purchasing t-mobile. When you start the process you’ll see an activation screen. Your choices are to activate or later. Press later. This process will repeat 2 more times. Each time press later. After 3 attempts the system bypasses the activation screen and you can have the device activated on the network of your choice as long as they support eSIM.

Another option is to purchase the iPhone unlocked and upon getting home call an Apple Card Specialist at Goldman Sachs Bank and request the device be added to an ACMI.

The other way is to purchase an iPhone and just bypass the activation request the carrier has preinstalled on the iPhone. The iPhones from Apple and the carriers are unlocked. But when you turn the iPhone on you’ll see a screen requesting activation through the carrier you purchased. I recommend t-mobile because theirs is the easiest to bypass. T-mobile activation allows you to say later and you’ll be asked 2 more times to click later and the activation is bypassed.

Once bypassed, you can activate on any network that supports the eSIM on the iPhone. If you’re going to use an Apple Watch, the carrier needs to support Apple Watches. This may exclude many of the extreme discounters. If you don’t need a Watch activated on a plan, you’re good to go.

There are multiple benefits to the card. Interest free installment payments is just one of the many benefits.

One of the nice thing about discussion forums is that community members can post comments with solutions and workarounds that mitigate the issue. This thread contains multiple solutions. You’ll just need to take the time and make the effort to learn how to do it. 😀😀

Thanks. I'll consider this. I currently pay for AC+, but the $600 coverage would cover a good portion for free and save me $13.49/mo = $162/yr of AC+.

I'm guessing Apple got some money from the carriers for this, but I wonder if it will be enough to replace the lost revenue. I was going to for sure get a 15 Pro Max with the 0%, but now I'm wondering if I want it at all. Losing out on the 0% direct and the convenience via Apple Card, and having to open yet another card account... Might just wait until savings accounts aren't paying 5%.

Little bit rude reply but okay, I’ll go the extra mile to answer you.

1. You are wrong assuming I’m assuming because this morning I spent several minutes over the phone with Goldman Sachs person who told me you cannot buy installments and unlocked, and with Apple sales guy that told me same thing. Neither of them mentioned I could do something to make it work, specially the Apple guy, considering we had an extended conversation about it and he fully understood what I wanted. Just, “sorry, not possible”.
2. I don’t have the time to read all the replies here. Maybe, instead of doing all the replies you do, you could post something useful explaining how to make it work, that way the best reply here wouldn’t be KACKIE’s saying the same thing as me.

Before you replied I was checking apple store to investigate a little bit more, see if maybe there was a way and read the term unlocked when selecting a carrier, so possibly there is a way, but not the way majority of people would expect, specially if Apple, through their trained staff, tells you otherwise. Have a nice day.

You can still by an unlocked iPhone. You just can’t do installments as easy as before and trade can be an issue. The option is to just buy the iPhone outright.

So, what is it exactly you want to do? Are you just venting or do you want a possible solution for what your end goal is?

There are multiple ways of accomplishing what you want. They’re discussed in multiple posts and comments above.