No, You Probably Shouldn’t Lend Your iPhone

Apple has spent more than a decade tending to its own walled garden of products. CEO Tim Cook’s biggest legacy at the company was turning it into a registration servicewhere tools and services interact and interact in a seamless, seamless way customers in.

Apple’s update is the latest iteration of that vision. Tuesday, Apple he announced a new rental service that allows you to rent items like new iPhone, iPad, Macor Apple Watch. (This story was it took a week and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.)

Apple Upgrade is a partnership with the financial company Klarna, which is known for its buy-now, pay-later services. After signing up, you can pay a monthly fee to get a new device. After a year or 24 months, you can continue paying monthly but trade in new equipment. If you need something sooner, there is a fee to exchange equipment before 12 months.

Monthly plans start at $18 for iPhones, $12 for Apple Watches, $25 for Macs, and $12 for iPads. iPhones come unlocked, meaning your device is not tied to a carrier and will work worldwide without any issues. The program also offers device trade-ins, which can lower your monthly payments. Apple will also give back 3 percent every day if you pay rent and Apple Card.

Paying $18 a month for 24 months is $432—that’s $599 iPhone 17e. But it’s not really a discount, because you don’t have the device. iPhones like to hold their own get the best out of itso buying the phone wholesale and reselling it is a better option financially. The Apple Upgrade edition also requires you to return the device to its original condition, meaning the company may charge more for any damage. (You can pay a small monthly fee to add AppleCare insurance to plans.)

Apple’s upgrade also means the end of the company’s iPhone extension processa similar system that allows people to pay in installments to buy the latest iPhone models. If you’re still signed up for the program, Apple says you don’t need to take any action, and payments will continue until the end of your 24-month subscription. If your plan allows you to get a new device, Apple says it will “make it easy to get it in a way that works for you.” Or, you can continue to pay off the existing loan and keep the device. You can switch from an iPhone plan to an Apple Upgrade through your Apple account.

Essentially, Apple Upgrade serves as yet another way to keep users loyal to the ecosystem. It also limits what people can do with their devices once they have them, because they will need to return them to the company later. Kyle Wiens, CEO of repair company iFixithe says the move will seriously erode people’s ownership of their devices.

“Apple is using its financial advantage to turn us all into tenants instead of owners,” Wiens wrote in a letter to WIRED. “This is going to cost people money and organizations. They know how many of these calls are going to be made in a year and they are increasing their profits.”

An Apple representative told WIRED that persistent memory loss He didn’t recommend the Apple Upgrade, even though it’s coming soon to Apple prices have gone up on several of its properties. Like everything costs moreLeasing can seem like a way to reduce those extra costs—always being able to use the latest device.