iPhone Upgrade Program Resumes in England
As England's second national lockdown comes to an end today, after four weeks of waiting, many customers enrolled in Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program are finally able to go in-store to complete their upgrade.
England entered a second national lockdown on Thursday, November 5, meaning that Apple stores in England were forced to close, with some converting to a click-and-collect service only.
Unlike the United States, iPhone Upgrade Program customers in the United Kingdom have to attend an in-store appointment to complete their upgrade.
Apple staggered the launch of the iPhone 12 lineup, with the iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 mini launching three weeks later than the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro. The iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 mini became available for pre-order on November 6, one day into England's lockdown. This meant that iPhone Upgrade Program customers in England were able to upgrade to the iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro if they did so before the second lockdown began, but not the iPhone 12 mini or iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Customers in the UK's other three constituent countries, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, were still able to upgrade as Apple Stores in these territories remained open due to different regional restrictions, albeit belatedly due to the way Apple's retail system operates.
Today, all Apple stores in England are re-opening, so the iPhone Upgrade Program is able to continue. However, as noted by iMore, not all retail stores are resuming normal opening hours.
Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Popular Stories
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly nine months later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon.
In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis.
In his Powe...
The calendar has turned to February, and a new report indicates that Apple's next product launch is "imminent," in the form of new MacBook Pro models.
"All signs point to an imminent launch of next-generation MacBook Pros that retain the current form factor but deliver faster chips," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on Sunday. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated...
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips alongside macOS 26.3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
"Apple's faster MacBook Pros are planned for the macOS 26.3 release cycle," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter today.
"I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated for the macOS 26.3 software cycle, which runs from...
We are still waiting for the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate to come out, so the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week or two away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April.
Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far.
iOS 26.3
iPhone to Android Transfer Tool
iOS 26.3 makes it easier...
Apple recently updated its online store with a new ordering process for Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro.
There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an...
