Best Buy’s Upgrade Plus Lets MacBook Buyers Upgrade Every 3 Years

    Best Buy is offering financing, upgrades and product protection on Apple laptops such as the MacBook Pro M2.
    Dan Ackerman/CNET
    

    Best Buy is now offering a MacBook upgrade program called Upgrade Plus that lets people finance an Apple laptop over 36 months with the option to either buy it outright at the end of the three-year cycle or jump up to a newer model, the retailer said in a press release on Monday.
    Financing options start at $20 a month for a $999 MacBook. After 36 months, $280.35 would be remaining on the device. If a person decides to keep their MacBook, they’ll have to pay off that amount. If they trade it in for another MacBook, payments continue, and Best Buy says it “will make the final payment on behalf of the customer.”
    “By introducing Upgrade Plus, we’re bringing customers an affordable and approachable way to get their hands on some of the most exciting technology available,” said Jason Bonfig, Best Buy’s chief merchandising officer in a press release.
    Apple said it didn’t have an additional comment.
    While Apple itself doesn’t offer an upgrade program on its MacBook line of computers, it does for iPhones. Customers can get a new iPhone every year, with AppleCare Plus coverage starting at $39.50 per month. This pseudo-subscription model is part of a larger trend in tech to keep people paying monthly for products and services. Adobe famously switched to a subscription service in 2013 for its suite of apps, which includes Photoshop, Lightroom and Premiere Pro. Adobe’s revenue has continued to grow, jumping 120% from 2016 to 2020, according to Zippia.
    For Best Buy Totaltech customers, the company’s yearly membership program that offers product protection and advanced purchases of in-demand items like the?PlayStation 5, they will get AppleCare Plus for 24 months when getting a MacBook with Upgrade Plus.
    Read more: Best MacBook for 2022