Apple iPhone XS: Why you should buy it with AppleCare Plus, and a case

YouTube/MKBHD

• Apple’s latest iPhones, the iPhone XS and XS Max, are on sale
  now.
• But if you choose to buy either of these new phones, there
  are two extra purchases you should also make: AppleCare+, and a
  phone case.
• If you don’t purchase AppleCare+, and you break the front or
  back of your phone, you’ll be stuck with exorbitant repair costs,
  which can cost more than a case and Apple’s insurance combined.

Apple’s all-glass iPhone designs are beautiful, but they can be
very expensive to repair if you don’t have AppleCare+.

Any new iPhone you buy, whether it’s the new iPhone XS Max or the
2-year-old iPhone 7, comes with AppleCare, which
includes complimentary phone support from Apple for the first 90
days, and a one-year limited warranty — but specifically against
defects.

Notably, normal AppleCare doesn’t cover accidental damage. This
is only covered by Apple’s premium insurance plan, AppleCare+,
which anyone should purchase if they’re buying the new iPhone XS
or XS Max.

Breaking down the benefits of AppleCare+

AppleCare+ costs $300 to cover a new iPhone XS or XS
Max, or $15 per month for 24 months. It’s not cheap!

But, if you’re already spending at least $1,000 on an iPhone XS,
it’s absolutely worth the purchase.

AppleCare+ basically extends AppleCare’s warranty from one to two
years, including the complimentary phone support from Apple. But
it also adds coverage for accidental damage, either from drops or
water. AppleCare+ will cover up to two “incidents,” but if
you have two incidents where part of your phone
breaks, AppleCare+ pretty much pays for itself.

Check out this chart from Apple:

Apple

To break it down:

If you have AppleCare+, and you break your
screen, you’ll only be paying $29 to repair it.

If you don’t have AppleCare+, and
you break your screen, you’ll be
paying $279 if you have an iPhone XS, and
$329 if you have the iPhone XS Max.

But that’s just repairs for the screen! Check out this second
chart from Apple, which shows the costs of “other repairs,”
including if you break the glass back of the phone:

Apple

To break it down:

If you have AppleCare+, and you break the back
of your phone, you’ll only be paying $99 to
repair it.

If you don’t have AppleCare+, and
you break the back of your phone, you’ll be
paying $549 if you have an iPhone XS, and
$599 if you have the iPhone XS Max.

So, let’s say you buy an iPhone XS Max, and choose not to buy
AppleCare+. If you have two incidents, where you break the front
and back of your phone, you’re paying $928 just
to repair your phone! If you bought AppleCare+, the most you
would have paid, in total, would be $527, which
includes the $300 price of AppleCare+.

In other words, it pays to have insurance — even if you’re
extremely careful, you can’t foresee certain circumstances, and
you’ll be glad you paid more money up front so you could save
more money later on.

Getting insurance against your insurance

AppleCare+ is costly, but it’s much more costly to deal with
repairs, whether you have Apple’s insurance plan or not.

AppleCare+ should be considered your last line of defense, so get
some extra protection to ensure you don’t have to pay for repairs
at all. In other words, buy a phone case. Cases provide some
protection for your screen, but more importantly, they protect
the most fragile and most expensive parts of the iPhone XS and XS
Max: their large glass backs.

My colleague Avery Hartmans rounded up the
best iPhone X cases you can buy last year, and most of those
should fit the new iPhone XS, but I would personally recommend
you get a case
from Apple (they make some very nice silicone and
leather cases) or Society6, which has
hundreds of thousands of different fun designs to choose
from.