Apple launches lease-to-own program for iPhone and Mac through Klarna

Apple is moving away from outright device sales as the primary path to ownership. The company announced a lease-to-own program with Klarna on July 21, set to launch July 28, that covers iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. The existing iPhone Upgrade Program will stop accepting new sign-ups, replaced by the Klarna-backed arrangement across all major product lines.

The terms vary by device category. iPhone and Apple Watch leases run up to 24 months; Mac and iPad leases extend to 36 months, reflecting the longer replacement cycles typical for those categories. At the end of the lease, customers can keep the device, return it, or upgrade to a new model. Some transactions will carry an additional fee, though the company has not published details on when or how much. Pricing has not been publicly disclosed ahead of the July 28 launch.

Klarna’s role is to handle the deferred payment mechanics — structuring the monthly installments and managing the backend of what is essentially a lease-to-own arrangement. Apple retains the product relationship and the upgrade path; Klarna absorbs the financing infrastructure. The program is broader in scope than the iPhone-only predecessor, extending Apple’s installment approach to the full hardware lineup for the first time.

The timing is not incidental. Apple raised prices across several Mac and iPad product lines earlier this year, and the lease program is explicitly designed to reduce the friction those increases created at point of sale. A lower monthly commitment is easier to agree to than a higher one-time price, even if the total cost over the lease term may be similar. The mechanics of BNPL-style financing in consumer electronics have been well established by Samsung and third-party services; Apple is now using Klarna to bring the same structure in-house.

Several details remain undisclosed as of launch week. Geographic availability has not been confirmed — it is unclear whether the program opens in markets beyond the US on July 28. Credit requirements, which govern who qualifies for the monthly payment structure, have not been published. The program page has not yet gone live. The original iPhone Upgrade Program, available since 2015, will continue to operate for existing participants.

Apple’s shift toward a lease model reflects a broader pattern across hardware categories: reducing upfront sticker shock while keeping customers in a recurring relationship with the manufacturer. The question for consumers is whether the flexibility of keeping, returning, or upgrading at term end justifies signing into a multi-year installment arrangement — a calculation that depends heavily on pricing that Apple has not yet revealed.

Tags: Apple, iPhone, apple watch, device leasing, iPad, Klarna