Insurance or something to hedge against forced obsolescence

IdaBWells

Hi

I wonder if this might be a fantasy but are there any insurance products or anything that would insure gadgets as they age? We've had a number of iPhones, tablets develop issues after a few years and Apple refuse to repair them - they're classed as 'vintage', which brings to mind those hand painted ads for Coke etc, except these devices were made in like 2016! 

I know why Apple and other companies would do this but is there anything we, the wretched consumer, can do??

BarelySentientAI

What do you mean 'insure'?

In the sense of "buy you a new one if you lose/break/have the old one stolen", yes, many insurers cover that.

If you mean "getting old and wearing out", no, insurance doesn't cover expected wear and tear.

Even if they did, self-insurance would probably be cheaper.

pramsay13

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Maybe stop buying Apple products. They are particularly bad for forcing obsolescence. 

user1977

Unless I'm misunderstanding - why do you think anyone would offer such "insurance" for any less than what it will inevitably cost you?

400ixl

In Apple terms they stop fixing devices when they can no longer return it to the customer with the latest OS and patches applied.

Vintage is devices which can still run a supported OS but not the latest. Obsolete is when they cannot run a supported OS at all.

Using a device on the internet once obsolete is not a good idea.

Pramsay13, Apple have actually been the better of supporting devices for a longer period of time, so your comment is the opposite of true. Cheap Android devices can be lucky to have 2 years, let alone 8 years of support nd only flagship from Google and samsung are getting close to this now.

You will find insurance that will replace hardware components for older devices, but there will always be software exclusions and they will only every be able to support what Apple can supply but with big caveats.

theoretica

There is now the right to repair law, which may make some situations better in future, but doesn't guarantee spare parts will be made for ever.

vacheron

IdaBWells said:

Hi

I wonder if this might be a fantasy but are there any insurance products or anything that would insure gadgets as they age? We've had a number of iPhones, tablets develop issues after a few years and Apple refuse to repair them - they're classed as 'vintage', which brings to mind those hand painted ads for Coke etc, except these devices were made in like 2016! 

I know why Apple and other companies would do this but is there anything we, the wretched consumer, can do??

Insurance premiums are based on likelihood + the insurers operating costs and profit. 

As there is a 100% likelihood that a cutting edge technology gadget will become obsolete and unsupported, the cost of insuring against this inevitability will cost you far more than just buying the new device. 

DullGreyGuy

IdaBWells said:

I wonder if this might be a fantasy but are there any insurance products or anything that would insure gadgets as they age? We've had a number of iPhones, tablets develop issues after a few years and Apple refuse to repair them - they're classed as 'vintage', which brings to mind those hand painted ads for Coke etc, except these devices were made in like 2016! 

I know why Apple and other companies would do this but is there anything we, the wretched consumer, can do??

2016 was 8 years ago not a "few" years ago and Apple will still repair an iPhone 7 which was the device launched that year, its the older iPhone 6s and earlier thats now fallen out of Apple's repair offering at 9 years old but there are plenty of third party repairers that will still work on them (but given the residual value its probably cheaper to replace it with a newer reconditioned unit). 

vacheron said:

IdaBWells said:

Hi

I wonder if this might be a fantasy but are there any insurance products or anything that would insure gadgets as they age? We've had a number of iPhones, tablets develop issues after a few years and Apple refuse to repair them - they're classed as 'vintage', which brings to mind those hand painted ads for Coke etc, except these devices were made in like 2016! 

I know why Apple and other companies would do this but is there anything we, the wretched consumer, can do??

Insurance premiums are based on likelihood + the insurers operating costs and profit. 

As there is a 100% likelihood that a cutting edge technology gadget will become obsolete and unsupported, the cost of insuring against this inevitability will cost you far more than just buying the new device. 

Average claims cost + risk margin + operating costs + Insurance Premium Tax + Profit margin ... you missed a couple of bits. On long term policies you do have minus investment income.

How it would be structured would impact it... think of life insurance/assurance which is similar because everyone is going to die at some point. You get Term insurance, where it only pays if you die with X years and you get whole of life insurance which pays out no matter when you die. There is a notable difference in premium between the two and those that have above average lifespan may end up paying in more than they get out of a whole of life policy. 

This type of thing however is not normally written as long term insurance but an annual policy so more like a PA policy which will also payout if you die within the policy period but its an annual policy so premiums escalate as you age and insurers can at any point decide not to renew so were such a product to exist you may find coverage impossible to find once the device is 6-7 years old.