South Africans wanting the new iPhone Xs and its bigger sibling, the Xs Max, will be able to get them from iStore on 28 September. Impressively, that’s only a week after the devices launch in ‘Tier 1’ markets like the US, UK and Australia. Look at us, eh? We’re ‘Tier 2’ kids now, baby.
At the same time, iStore has updated its get-a-new-iPhone-every-year plan, with a new payment option that’ll allow customers to receive 50% trade-in value on their year-old device (assuming it’s in reasonable condition, of course, which the iStore says includes allowances for “light surface scratches and fair wear-and-tear”). Presumably, this only applies going forwards, but we’ll check and let you know. [UPDATE: iStore has confirmed this is a new initiative, so will only apply to those consumers buying the new phones who want to trade them in next year for whatever the new devices are then.]
Moreover, in keeping with its mission to be the go-to for all things iPhone, the iStore has announced customers that buy (or upgrade to) the new iPhone Xs and Xs Max will get free iCare Plus worth R2,000, which includes a two-year extended warranty and a certified screen repair (subject to a service fee, that’ll vary depending not the phone).
To qualify for the free iCare Plus, customers will need to sign up for a digital voucher on the iStore website before 31 December 2018, and then redeem it when they upgrade their contract or buy one of the new devices outright.
Of course, it’s too early for pricing info, and we’re a little nervous it could be worse than last year’s thanks to the knock the rand has taken of late, but we’ll keep you posted. There’s also no word on when we’ll see the cheaper iPhone Xr in SA, but as it only goes on sale in the US on 26 October, we don’t expect to see it here before November 2018.
Below is a list of all the reasons iStore thinks you should choose it for your upgrade, rather than your local cellphone store (assuming, of course, you’re not with Cell C, which doesn’t seem to want to play ball with iStore):
