Apple Deals

Apple doesn’t offer widespread discounts and its products certainly aren't MoneySaving, but if a new Apple device is what you want, there is a way to take a bite out of the cost of Macs and iPads – up to 10% off the normal price via the Apple Education Store* online or at a physical Apple Store. Plus, when you buy selected devices, Apple is offering a gift card of up to £120 until Monday 21 October.

Last year Apple offered a gift card up to £130, so while this is still a good deal if you're in the market for new Apple tech, we're disappointed to see the gift card value decrease by £10.

Officially, this education discount is geared towards university students and teachers, but even if you’re neither, you may still be able to get it if you work in education in any capacity, or you've a child who's at or going to be at university (see who it’s for below).

Who's eligible and how do you get the discount?

1. Students attending (or who've been accepted into) university – go to the Apple Education Store* website. You’ll be asked to sign up (or log in) to discount scheme Unidays using your uni email address for verification. The education discounts will then be automatically applied.

If you’re unable to sign up to Unidays or you don’t want to give it your data, you can call Apple on 0800 048 0408 and it’ll verify you with your ID or acceptance letter and you can continue your purchase over the phone. Alternatively, take the verification documents to an Apple Store (find your nearest).

2. Teachers and education workers at all levels in any state or private education institute, for example, schools, colleges and universities (even if you work in the office and not the classroom) – visit an Apple Store and show proof of where you work such as a payslip or call 0800 048 0408. 

3. Parents of current or newly accepted university students – visit an Apple Store and show your child's student ID or acceptance letter.

Free Apple gift card up to £120 when buying a Mac or iPad 

If you buy certain products through the Apple Education scheme until Monday 21 October, you can get an Apple gift card of £80 or £120, depending on what product you buy.

Here is the list of eligible products and the value of the voucher you'd get:

Once you’ve selected an eligible Apple product, the gift card will be automatically added to your 'bag', and will be sent to your billing email address within 24 hours from the time your new product ships – so you can't use this straight away to get a discount on the product itself.

Apple has confirmed there's no expiry date on the gift card and it can be redeemed in-store or online at Apple, or at the App Store – see Apple's webpage on how to redeem a gift card for more info. 

Of course, it's not worth buying a Mac or iPad just for the gift card, but if you're after one of the eligible Apple products anyway, it's a decent deal as Apple rarely does offers.

You can also get 20% off AppleCare+ (Apple's warranty scheme), to protect your purchase, as well as one month of free Apple Music and Apple TV+ – you'll be automatically signed up to the student price for both services after, so remember to cancel if you don't want to keep it.

Which Apple products can you get up to 10% off?

You can get up to 10% off Mac and iPad products via its Education Store (not the regular Apple website) – this is a year-round offer.

We did some number crunching on four student discount examples on Wednesday 24 July:

As you can see with the education discount, Apple is currently cheapest for most products, but not all – though we haven't factored in the added value of the 'free' gift card. Prices are constantly changing so do your own checks and look out for discounts at other retailers.

Not a student, teacher or other education worker?

Provided you know someone who’s studying at uni or working at a school, college or uni, you can in theory get the discount if that person’s willing to go and buy the goods for you. As far as we can see, this isn’t a breach of the terms and conditions. Of course, you’ll have to decide whether it’s morally okay – as this is a scheme designed specifically for people in education.

See our Student discounts round-up for other ways to save.

While buying an Apple iPhone is never MoneySaving, our Cheap iPhones guide explains the cheapest ways to get your hands on the latest iPhone.

Read the full guide for the cheapest ways to buy an iPhone.

In 2017, Apple made all of its iWork programs free to download for all iMac, MacBook and iPhone/iPad users. Previously, you had to have bought a device recently.

See Free iWork apps for more info and download links.

What is iWork?

iWork is Apple's answer to the Microsoft Office suite of work programs, but created specifically for Mac computers and iOS devices. The package consists of three programs:

• Pages (for documents, like Microsoft Word)
• Numbers (for spreadsheets, like Microsoft Excel)
• Keynote (for presentations, like Microsoft Powerpoint)

There are plenty of free music streaming services available, if you don't mind putting up with the ads. But if you want an ad-free service you'll need to stump up for it. With Apple Music Student Membership you can get a discounted subscription at £5.99 a month (normally £10.99 for non-students) – a strong deal given there's no free version of the service.

How do I get the discount?

You need a Unidays account for Apple to verify your student status (it can't do this via NUS Extra unfortunately). Use up any new customer promos first though to maximise value – a one-month trial of Apple Music is available on an ongoing basis.

Apple says it "periodically" checks your student status, and if it finds out you're no longer a student or if you reach the maximum discount period (four years), it'll automatically move you to a full-price subscription at £10.99 a month. So make sure you cancel if you don't want this.

There are rarely big discounts available at Apple*, but don’t assume you can’t cut your costs on a new iPhone, iPad or Mac computer until you've checked the following tips and tricks.

• Student & teacher discount. If you're studying at university, or if you work in education at any level (lecturers, school teachers, office staff etc), you can save as much as 10% on Apple products such as iMas, MacBooks and iPads.
   
• Check for deals elsewhere. If you're not committed to buying direct from Apple, look for discounts at other places where Apple products are sold such as Amazon, Argos, Currys and John Lewis (John Lewis also offers a two-year guarantee, compared to the standard 12-month warranty).
   
• Time it right. If you're not fussed about having the very latest model, you can save money on Apple products by grabbing an older product as a new one's announced. This tends to happen in September, when Apple normally unveils a new iPhone and prices on previous models suddenly go down.
  


• Had a problem with Apple? There’s a free online tool you can use to complain – it helps draft, manage and if necessary escalate your complaint. It’s offered by a firm called Resolver, which we like so much we work with it to help people get complaints justice – you can use it to complain to Apple*.