苹果升级计划要求iPhone租赁需通过AT&T、T-Mobile或Verizon激活

Apple Upgrade may broaden device leasing to Mac, iPad and Apple Watch, but its iPhone option arrives with a familiar restriction. Customers must activate the leased handset through an eligible postpaid account with AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon, leaving prepaid subscribers and customers of smaller wireless providers outside the program. The limitation applies even though Klarna, rather than a carrier, administers the lease. Monthly payments do not appear on a wireless bill, and the carrier is not financing the handset. Its role enters at activation, where the checkout process requires verification through one of the three supported networks. That distinction has caused understandable confusion. …