Market Analysis: AppleCare Plus vs Samsung Care Plus
Mind the gap...
Key Findings: At the £1,099 like-for-like price point (iPhone 17 Pro vs Galaxy S26+ 256GB), AppleCare+ is priced 39% above Samsung Care+ on the 24-month single premium and 60% above on monthly theft and loss cover | Apple compresses three iPhones spanning £200 of retail (the £999 Air, the £1,099 Pro and the £1,199 Pro Max) into a single £179 AC+ band, concentrating premium pricing at the segment where Apple Retail UK FY2025 attach rates run 19-21% | Apple's monthly-to-fixed-term uplift sits flat at 21% across the iPhone range, while Samsung's varies from 6% to 27% across SKUs, consistent with bolttech and AmTrust still calibrating after the 19 January 2026 relaunch | Samsung's move to a 48-hour replacement guarantee redirects claimed devices into its refurbishment and parts network rather than back to customers, a lifecycle change beyond the customer-experience upgrade | FCA 2024 Value Measures place AIG, AC+'s underwriter, in the higher bands for average claim payout among gadget insurers, with Samsung's pre-relaunch Assurant programme in lower bands on frequency, acceptance and payout. Full analysis available as a downloadable report at reports.finsur.co.uk.
Following last week's piece on Apple Retail UK's blistering FY2025 sales1 and the implied AppleCare Plus (AC+) performance, it felt worth setting the AC+ benchmark against its main competitor. Samsung Care+ (SC+) went through a complete relaunch on 19 January 2026 with new underwriter, new administrator, and a substantially upgraded product, so the timing is good for a side-by-side. Whether any of this sways consumer buying behaviour is a different question, but the comparison surfaces some differences in how the two duopolists structure their device protection.
Introduction
In scoping this article, I’d looked at multiple markets and eventually settled on the UK only because the products are practically identical across all major western markets and when accounting for f/x, the pricing is pretty standard as well. The article covers only the policies as purchased directly from the online manufacturer store for the iPhone 17 generation and the current Galaxy S & Z lineups.
I’ve listed both the 24-month single premium and monthly premium prices. AppleCare Plus (AC+) monthly cover is open-ended and cancellable at any time. SamsungCare Plus (SC+) monthly cover rolls for a maximum of 60 months.
AC+ prices come from the UK pricing appendix available here and the SC+ prices come from their configurator, here. All prices were recorded on 27/04/2026.
Apple’s excess charges are applied identically across every iPhone: £25 for screen and back glass damage, £79 for other accidental damage, and £109 for theft and loss. Samsung uses two tiers, banding their excess as well as the premium. The S26 and S26+ carry £25 for any damage claim and £50 for theft and loss. The S26 Ultra, Z Flip7, and Z Fold7 step up to £50 for damage and £120 for theft and loss.
On 19 January 2026, Samsung relaunched Care+ across 17 European markets. The underwriter changed from Assurant to AmTrust Specialty, the administrator changed to bolttech, and the product itself was substantially upgraded: unlimited repairs replaced the previous two-per-year cap, monthly cover now rolls for up to 60 months instead of 36, support went 24/7, the previous 60-day worldwide trip limit was removed, and a 48-hour replacement guarantee replaced the old repair-first model that had produced multi-week customer waits. Existing customers on policies bought before 19 January remain on the old Assurant terms; new customers get the relaunched product, which is what this article analyses.
General Cluster
With the iPhone 17 Pro and Galaxy S26+ both at £1,099 for the 256GB version, it’s the most obvious price comparison in the middle of the premium device price point. For the iPhone AC+ 24m, single premium comes in at £179 and AC+TL at £239. For the Galaxy, SC+ 24m single premium is £129 and SC+TL is £169. AC+ is 39% more expensive than SC+ on the standard accidental damage policy and 41% higher on the theft and loss policy.
The picture changes with the monthly policies. Apple's AC+ at £8.99 per month is 38% above Samsung's SC+ at £6.49, similar to the fixed-term gap but, add in the theft and loss and the difference jumps to 60%, with AC+TL at £11.99 versus SC+TL at £7.49. And, whilst AC+TL monthly sits at 20% above the pro-rata equivalent of its own 24-month single premium (£239 / 24 = £9.96), SC+TL monthly sits only 6% above its pro-rata £7.04. Apple appear to be pricing in the higher risk that monthly theft and loss cover represents and perhaps Samsung are not. A customer paying month-to-month retains the right to cancel at any time, which makes the monthly T&L line more exposed to adverse selection than the locked-in fixed-term equivalent. AmTrust, having only taken over the SC+ account in January, may not yet have the same claim experience to equivalently load the monthly premiums. Or it might just be a different commercial decision. One to watch.
The iPhone Air and the Galaxy Z Flip7 provide two more devices creating a general cluster around the £1,099 price point. The Z Flip7 and the iPhone Air both have different hardware platforms warranting separate risk pricing. Samsung’s Z Flip7 retail price point at £1,049 is £50 below the S26+ but single premium SC+ at £189 and SC+TL at £269 are £60 (+47%) and £100 (+59%) more expensive. The monthly picture is similar: £9.49 against £6.49 for standard cover and £12.49 against £7.49 for theft and loss, gaps of 46% and 67% respectively, which implies the flipping hardware is still significantly more costly to repair, despite engineering improvements in the more recent versions.
Apple's iPhone Air at £999 retail sits £100 below the iPhone 17 Pro at £1,099, but AC+ at £179 single premium and AC+TL at £239 are identical on both phones. The monthly picture is the same: £8.99 for standard cover and £11.99 theft and loss. The Air also carries identical AC+ pricing to the iPhone 17 Pro Max at £1,199, despite a £200 retail gap. That’s three phones spanning £200 in one insurance band, and the £999 Air is the cheapest phone inside it. Stepping down to the iPhone 17 at £799, AC+ falls to £129 standard and £189 theft and loss, gaps of 39% and 26% respectively. The 39% step on standard cover lines up with the 25% retail price difference almost exactly on a proportional basis, but the 26% theft and loss step is shallower. Whether this means AIG sees the Air's theft and loss exposure as lower than its band placement implies, or whether it is simply how the band fell out commercially, the data cannot prove. However, what this does make clear is that Apple's premium insurance band is not price-driven.
Continue reading for:
The logic behind Apple’s upper band and why it sits where it does in the iPhone line-up
How the monthly-to-fixed-term uplift discipline differs between the two programmes and what it suggests about the post-relaunch transition
The lifecycle implication of Samsung’s January 2026 service shift, and what Apple’s first foldable pricing decision will signal
Alternatively, this article is available as a downloadable report from reports.finsur.co.uk