I'm trying to understand how the Apple Upgrade Lease Program works with Klarna. Suppose I trade in an iPhone 16 Pro when upgrading to an iPhone 18 Pro, bringing the lease payment down to about $7.49 per month for 12 months. At the end of those 12 months, my understanding is that I return the iPhone 18 Pro to Klarna instead of owning it. If I then upgrade again, I wouldn't have a device to trade in for additional credit. Does that mean the next lease or financing payment would increase substantially because I'm starting without a trade-in?
2 Answers
According to Apple’s lease information, you can keep the device instead of returning it by paying the remaining buyout amount. That amount is generally based on the phone’s price when the lease began, minus the lease payments already made and any remaining trade-in credits, plus applicable taxes. If you return it at the end, though, you give up the ability to use that phone as a future trade-in, so the next financing or lease payment could indeed be higher without another device or credit.
That’s basically the trade-off with leasing. Your payments are lower because you’re only covering the phone’s expected depreciation during the lease term, not the full purchase price. For example, if a phone costs around $1,600 and the lease payments total roughly $800, you return the phone at the end to account for the remaining value. Since you don’t own it, there’s no accumulated equity to use as a trade-in on the next upgrade.
Right, I’m not asking about ending the lease early. I mean that once the lease naturally ends, returning the phone means I no longer have that device available as a trade-in when I upgrade again.