Apple TV Plus gets another expansion on its free trial offer – so if you’ve bought a new Apple product since the video streaming service was launched in November 2019, like the iPhone 12, you can retain free access until June this year.
The offer originally entitled new Apple hardware owners to a free Apple TV Plus subscription that would last until November 2020, but in October, Apple extended the scheme to continue until February 2021. It has now been pushed back to June.
This means that not only will recent Apple contractors get free streaming for a few months, but anyone who jumped on the offer early could end up with more than a year and a half of Apple TV Plus without spending an extra to pay cents.
Not only that, but anyone who is eligible for the offer but already pays the usual monthly $ 5 monthly subscription fee will refund their money until June. Everyone who is eligible to take advantage of the extension will be notified by email within the next few weeks, although they will not have to do anything on their part to activate it.
Apple gave no specific reason for this latest expansion. However, we do notice that there are several major releases appearing for Apple TV Plus in February, including the Rob McElhenney Workplace comedy “Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet” and Tom Holland’s crime drama “Cherry”.
Apple may just want it to get as many eyes as possible, both for the platform’s own viewing numbers and to act as effective advertising for prospective subscribers who could not sign up otherwise.
That said, Apple TV Plus has struggled throughout 2020 to attract new viewers; one report claims that only 7% of U.S. households had a subscription in June, compared to the 73% who signed up for Netflix. And since this free offering has been in effect all year, it’s an unanswered question what Apple really expects from this latest expansion.