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For $10k, Apple Watch Edition gets an extra year of AppleCare warranty coverage

Apple Watch

We now know the 18k gold Apple Watch Edition will start at $10,000 with models ranging up to $17,000, while the aluminum Apple Watch Sport and stainless steel Apple Watch will start at $349 and $549, respectively.

Aside from limited availability and a monumental price difference, the Apple Watch Edition will also include a more premium warranty. For the extra $9,000 or so for the Edition model, Apple is throwing in twice as much hardware repair coverage as the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport collections.

Apple hasn’t yet unveiled the price for the Watch’s AppleCare+, the extended warranty for Apple products, but here’s what we know about the warranty so far.

Both the Apple Watch and less expensive Apple Watch Sport include the same complimentary AppleCare warranty coverage.

This includes “one year of hardware repair coverage” and 90 days of support over the phone or online complimentary out of the box. AppleCare+ will be available for purchase, adding “up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage” with a cost and a full two years of hardware coverage and technical support.

The $10,000+ Apple Watch Edition already comes with a two full years of both limited hardware coverage and phone support. That’s one extra year of hardware coverage, and two years rather than 90 days of complimentary technical support. AppleCare+ for the Apple Watch Edition will extend both to a full three years and add the same two accidental damage incidents.

Screen Shot 2015-03-09 at 3.57.50 PM

While Apple hasn’t unveiled extended warranty or repair pricing for the Apple Watch, AppleCare+ for iPhone and iPad each costs $99 while AppleCare for Macs ranges from $99 to $349, for reference. The repair costs for each Apple Watch collection, especially the Edition, will be interesting to find out next.

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Comments

  1. dcj001 - 9 years ago

    “For $10k, Apple Watch Edition gets an extra year of AppleCare warranty coverage”

    So, you are saying that the Apple Watch comes with one year of AppleCare? No. It does not.

    The Apple Watch Edition does not get an extra year of AppleCare warranty coverage. AppleCare warranty coverage includes telephone support after 90 days. The Apple Watch Edition does not include telephone support after 90 days. Does it?

    If not, then Apple Watch Edition does not get an extra year of AppleCare warranty coverage.

    • Pier Rodelon - 9 years ago

      And I thought the prices were ridiculous BEFORE the announcement.

    • Zac Hall - 9 years ago

      the limited warranty is also called AppleCare

      • dcj001 - 9 years ago

        Either you or I is ignorant about AppleCare, Zach.

        I do not recall seeing Apple’s limited warranty being referred to, by Apple, as AppleCare. Possibly, you and the people with whom you speak refer to Apple’s limited warranty as AppleCare.

        Please post a link on Apple’s website on which Apple refers to its limited warranty as also being called AppleCare.

        Thank you.

      • DJ (@deej) - 9 years ago

        As an Apple Retail employee, I can tell you that the limited warranty is also referred to as AppleCare. The AppleCare Protection Plan and Applecare+ are products of AppleCare you can purchase.

      • samlayco7 - 9 years ago

        dcj001

        You’re talking at cross purposes really. Apple itself doesn’t refer to any product offering as simply ‘AppleCare’. There’s ‘AppleCare Protection Plan’ for Mac hardware and ‘AppleCare+’ for iOS/Apple Watch hardware.

        People simply refer to Apple’s ‘One-Year Limited Warranty’ as AppleCare, which whilst one could argue is incorrect, doesn’t implicate this article in stating Apple is offering something it isn’t. This article is stating that Apple is offering a ‘Two-Year Limited Warranty’ rather than the regular One Year variety with the Apple Watch Edition models. What you’re referring to is AppleCare+, a completely different offering.

        https://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/

        On a more personal approach to this conflict, in the future I’d suggest either:

        a) Doing some basic research before berating someone for being ‘incorrect’.

        b) Realise there is more to life than online journalism before berating someone for being ‘incorrect’.

    • Jake Lewis (@thisjake) - 9 years ago

      The picture embedded in the above article indicates that there are two years of both tech support and telephone support, which is one year longer than both the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport. If you purchase AppleCare+, according to Apple.com, you receive 3 years of technical support, telephone/online support, and two instances of Accidental Damage coverage (at a cost). All of these, including AppleCare+ are one year longer on the Apple Watch Edition than the other two models.

    • Mo Schmo (@AutoPill) - 9 years ago

      it does indeed.

  2. Steven Lawrence Sr - 9 years ago

    damn sucks for $10,000 should have lifetime warranty.. My Boluva watch got from Kay has LIFETIME warranty and was nowhere near $10,000.

  3. kkritsilas - 9 years ago

    For those that say the Apple Edition watch is out of character for Apple, being an “executive toy/fashion accessory”, I would liek to point that Apple has indeed done this in the past. The one that comes to mind is the 20th Anniversary Mac (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twentieth_Anniversary_Macintosh (TAM)). White not $10K at launch, it was $7499 in 1997, so not so our of line. It wasn’t a particularly outstanding unit, aside from price, essentially being the guts of a laptop in an odd desktop form factor, and not as powerful as some of the other Macs of the day. Similarly, the Edition is no more capable or faster than the regular or Sport versions of the Apple Watch, it just has a gold case, a fancier band, Apple Care+ as standard, and a color coordinated crown end. The TAM wasn’t particularly well recivied, seeing a lot of price cutting over the year it was available, nor was it an impressive device in basic specs.

    It will be interesting to me to see how Apple deals with product replacement/upgrades for the Edition. I personally think that there will be a straight on exchange, where you bring the Edition to one of the Apple Stores that has them, they charge you for the upgrade based on the prevailing gold price multiplies by the increase in gold weight (if any) plus some nominal amount for eh electronics, and you walk away with a new generation Edition. The Sport and regular iPhones will not have an update program, they will be updated like anyone would update an iPhone.

    Kostas

  4. rob nienburg (@robogobo) - 9 years ago

    Should be lifetime coverage.

  5. mpias3785 - 9 years ago

    Just one year? I would expect a lifetime warranty for a $10,000 watch.

  6. It’s sad to see a lifestyle product, divorcing Apple firmly from IT, carrying the same lame IT warranty they have on their other products. Standard iPhone Warranty needs to go to 2 years, Mac to 3 and the Watch to 5 minimum.

  7. Tinny - 9 years ago

    Apple you are magnanimous

  8. crichton007 - 9 years ago

    That’s mighty generous of them to add another year of coverage. I think Apple has helped me make my decision.

Author

Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

Zac covers Apple news, hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast, and created SpaceExplored.com.