Update - 6/20: Apple's 2024 Back to School Promotion is live
Update - 6/20: Following reports from Mark Gurman that Apple Back to School will take place on Thursday, Apple's education store has gone down, confirming the event is happening today, June 20. Original story below:
As regular as clockwork, but a little later than usual for 2024, Apple's annual Back to School promotion is expected to begin as early as Tuesday, according to a top insider.
Every year Apple offers eligible students and faculty some fairly significant bonuses if they buy one of its best MacBooks or best iPads ahead of the new term. While there are no discounts, Apple traditionally offers a chunky gift card, usually up to $200, as a reward.
The promotion launched on June 7 last year. Now, a little later than we'd normally expect, the 2024 Back to School Apple event is about to kick off.
Apple Back to School 2024
Writing on X, June 18, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman revealed that "Apple’s 2024 Back to School program will launch this week," indicating a rollout as early as Tuesday. But what can we expect from this year's annual event?
Last year, Apple offered a promotional gift card on four different Macs and three of its iPads. Users who bought the 24-inch iMac, MacBook Pro, or the MacBook Air, were all eligible for a $150 gift card. Users who bought an M2 Mac mini, iPad Pro, or M1 iPad Air, all received $100. Apple's lineup has shifted quite a lot since then, so here's how this year's offers could fall.
We'd expect Apple to include a broadly similar lineup of products, namely the M3 iMac, M3 MacBook Pro, and the M3 MacBook Air, as well as possibly Apple's M2 MacBook Air, which it still sells. When it comes to the iPad, Apple will probably offer its brand new M4 iPad Pro, as well as the new M2 iPad Air. We'd expect the promotional gift card amounts of $150-$100 to remain broadly the same as well.
Apple's Back to School offer usually runs until October. Specifically, it ended on October 2 last year, so you've plenty of time to make up your mind about a purchase. However, if you'd like an actual discount, rather than just a gift card then the upcoming Amazon Prime Day Apple sales are probably a better shout. Officially confirmed for July, some Amazon Prime Day iPad deals and Amazon Prime Day Mac and MacBook deals are already live and offer substantial discounts on products we'd expect to feature in Back to School. Notably, Apple's M2 MacBook Air is down to just $829 at Amazon.
