- Apple is reportedly planning to lease Mac computers as well as iPhones and other devices to consumers
- ‘Apple Upgrade’ allows you to pay via a subscription (with financing handled by Klarna) and buy the device at the end if you wish
- This is apparently Apple’s way of sidestepping the RAM crisis and keeping Mac sales going, as we’re also hearing about scary memory price hikes from the Framework
We’re seeing the continued fallout from the RAM crisis, with Framework outlining plans to deal with massive increases in memory costs, while Apple is rumored to be unveiling a new way to sell you a Mac to cope with ever-increasing sticker prices: it’ll rent you the PC.
Let’s start with Apple’s apparent plan, outlined in a report from Bloomberg, where Mark Gurman tells us that Apple is preparing to launch a device leasing scheme for consumers in partnership with Klarna (on the finance side).
We are told that this will be announced on July 28th and will be called ‘Apple Upgrade’. The sell (ahem) is that you can regularly upgrade your leased hardware, as well as avoid taking a big dent in your wallet with the significant outlay required to buy many Macs these days.
This won’t just be for Macs, mind you, but also the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, with most models of all that hardware apparently set to be included. It sounds like it may be a US-only initiative to begin with, but it may come to other regions later.
Apple Upgrade will apparently work as a subscription over a 36-month period (or 24 months for iPhones and Apple Watches), although there will be an option to pay off the device early and buy it outright (or upgrade to a newer model early). When the end of the subscription is reached, you can either return the Mac and upgrade to a newer model on a new financing agreement, or just keep it (obviously with a final payment).
As mentioned, Klarna apparently runs the finance side, and applications for Apple Upgrade will be subject to a soft credit check.
This new scheme will reportedly replace the iPhone upgrade program and Apple’s standard financing. The former offers a way to buy an Apple smartphone in monthly payments directly from the company (with 0% interest), but there is no Mac equivalent.
Gurman says of the Apple Upgrade scheme: “Apple plans to advertise the program as a way to get lower payments compared to current financing programs.” The leaker also clarifies that Apple Upgrade will not include AppleCare (unlike the iPhone Upgrade Program, which does).
Some of Apple’s cheaper devices won’t be eligible for this rental scheme either, and that includes the MacBook Neo as well as the Apple Watch SE, entry-level iPad and iPhone 16.
As for the move with Framework laptops, this was revealed in a blog post noted by Tom’s Hardware. The notebook maker said that with its Framework Laptop 13 Pro: “We recently received a cost update from our LPCAMM2 [laptop memory] supplier that goes far beyond anything we anticipated and everything we are able to absorb without putting our ability to operate at real financial risk.
“Instead of the low-to-mid double-digit percentage increase we had predicted from Q2 to Q3 on LPCAMM2 costs, we received prices that are more than double the previous inventory we had brought in.”
Framework does its best to cope (in a commendably transparent way) and adjusts existing pre-orders as needed. That means dropping some 64GB orders down to 32GB, charging the original 32GB price – and the same for 32GB orders that go down to 16GB, keeping the original price for the latter.
The price of the 32GB module hasn’t quite doubled, but it has increased 82% (with the Framework absorbing some of the increase), and a 64GB module has increased 88%. That means the latter nugget of RAM is now an eye-watering $1,600 in the US and £1,600 in the UK (yes, nugget seems to be an increasingly appropriate term these days).
Analysis: own nothing, be happy
Unfortunately, July has given us a clear picture that the RAM crisis is getting worse. We’ve just heard about DDR5 memory seeing a notable increase in prices (after rising somewhat for a few months), and the head of a major chip manufacturer has informed us that things will get much worse, with 2027 expected to be the ‘worst year’ in the history of the RAM industry, no less.
Framework’s story of a doubling in laptop memory costs is a really worrying increase on top of all this, and we can all no doubt still remember Apple’s price hikes that arrived at the end of June. Especially those of you who were considering a Mac purchase and regret not pulling the trigger before the hikes were announced.
Apparently Apple has a solution to the RAM crisis though, but this rental plan hasn’t gone down well online. Yes, you can imagine the reaction to this on social media – one Redditor notes that it’s “one step closer to owning nothing” (as in ‘own nothing and be happy’) – but in fairness, this is still a rumour. Although given the details, and the apparent closeness of the launch, it sounds pretty cast iron – but we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
Much of how any rent-to-buy scheme will play out is going to depend on the price Apple (and Klarna) charge, and the world out there on social media fears the worst. I honestly don’t blame the doubters, and especially those who are worried that the final installment to buy the Mac (or any other Apple device) will be punishingly high. Generally speaking, of course, this is how these leases tend to run, and the same is likely to be the case with the option to take advantage of an upgrade before the current lease is up.
What’s interesting is that last week I was pouring out my thoughts on how I was worried about Mac sales faltering and how Apple is in a bit of a difficult position in terms of combating this. Between MacBook holdouts, the ongoing RAM crisis, and cynicism surrounding an apparent renewed focus on AI from Apple, the Mac waters are seriously choppy.
I didn’t expect to get a (theoretical) answer so quickly, and now we apparently know how Apple plans to keep Mac sales going. The devil will be in the details of the Apple Upgrade scheme, assuming that happens, but the overriding online speculation for now remains that the terms of the lease are more likely to be slanted in a hellish direction than a heavenly one.
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