Apple plans to lease iPhones for $17.99 a month through partnership with Klarna

Apple customers in the U.S. will soon be able to lease an iPhone for up to two years at a price starting at $17.99 per month, the company announced on Tuesday.The program, called Upgrade, is a partnership with Klarna, a provider of buy now, pay later loans, that will be offered at Apple's physical retail stores as well as its online store. After passing a soft credit check, customers will be offered a one- or two-year lease on an iPhone. There will be a similar option for an Apple Watch, or a two- or three-year lease available for Macs and iPads. The announcement comes a month after Apple, citing the global memory crunch, raised starting iPad and Mac prices by at least $100, with some models increasing by more than $1,000. Analysts expect iPhone price hikes this year and say that leasing lets Apple shift the focus from a higher up-front sticker price to a lower monthly payment."Most of Apple's consumers, especially in the U.S. and other developed markets, are buying devices on installment plans or trade-ins, so we can expect to see much more aggressive offers," Nabila Popal, senior research director at IDC, told CNBC in an interview after the company signaled price increases in Jun...