Abstract created by Sensible Solutions AI
In abstract:
- Apple’s “free” AirPods Professional 3 promotion requires new Apple Card customers to first buy the headphones, then earn again $250 by means of month-to-month reimbursements.
- Macworld explains customers should make a minimum of 10 Apple Card purchases month-to-month to obtain $25 bonus money over 10 months beginning July 2026.
- The provide has strict limitations together with a June 15 buy deadline and excludes member of the family transactions from the required month-to-month buy depend.
Apple introduced a brand new promotion this week that appears too good to be true: Join a brand new Apple Card and get a pair of AirPods Professional 3 without spending a dime. That sounds nice (no pun meant), however take a better have a look at the effective print, and it’s not almost as beneficiant because it appears.
To begin, discover that you just don’t really get AirPods Professional 3 free. You must purchase them, and then you definitely ultimately get reimbursed by Apple. It says as a lot proper within the large banner on the high of the Apple Card signup web page.
For a restricted time, earn again the price of AirPods Professional 3, as much as $250 whole Bonus Every day Money. Get a brand new Apple Card and purchase AirPods Professional 3 at Apple by June 15. Beginning July 1, every month you make 10+ purchases you’ll earn $25 Bonus Every day Money, by means of April 30, 2027.*

Apple
Oh, what’s that? An asterisk? Let’s simply scroll right down to the effective print and discover out what that asterisk is all about…
Clearly, it is a promotion to get new candidates, so it doesn’t apply to anybody who already has an Apple Card. In the event you’re new to Apple Card, it’s important to apply for a brand new Apple Card, be authorized, after which use that Apple Card to purchase AirPods Professional 3 straight from Apple by June 15. You’ll then earn $250 in “bonus Every day Money” equal to the price of your AirPods Professional 3, minus gross sales tax and another charges (you’re on the hook for that). Additionally, the AirPods have to be new, so you may’t purchase a refurbished set, or totally different AirPods, or purchase in bulk.
You’ll be able to, nevertheless, use the varied buy choices tied to Apple Card, together with paying in installments, and a trade-in provide gained’t have an effect on your eligibility.
Every day Money is one in every of Apple’s signature options, the place the cashback you earn is deposited right into a digital Apple Money card or the Apple Card’s high-yield financial savings account every day as your purchases clear. Most Apple Pay purchases provide you with 2-3 p.c money again.
So the price of the AirPods Professional 3 you buy shall be reimbursed to you as a one-time Every day Money bonus? No drawback, you’ll simply pay them off instantly and keep away from the curiosity, proper? Sorry, it’s paid to you on the price of $25 monthly over 10 months, from July 1, 2026, by means of April 30, 2027.
What’s extra, it’s important to use your Apple Card to make a minimum of 10 purchases every month (of a minimum of $0.01). In the event you use the Apple Card Household function so as to add members of the family to your account with different members of the family, their purchases is not going to depend towards the ten you’ll want to make. You’ll additionally must be careful for a number of purchases from a single vendor that get bundled right into a single buy. The App Retailer does this: make a number of in-app purchases inside one or two days, and your card will often be billed solely as soon as. These bundle purchases solely depend as a single transaction for this.
The $25 of bonus every day money is earned and deposited in your account after your tenth buy every month. The effective print doesn’t say what occurs in the event you make fewer than 10 purchases in a month, however it might seem that you just don’t get your $25 that month, however you may resume getting the $25 bonus in future months by making 10 or extra purchases. You’ll simply run out of time to get your full $250 again earlier than the promotion ends.
Briefly, you don’t really get a free pair of AirPods Professional 3. You must purchase them first, after which you’ll want to make lots of purchases along with your new Apple Card each month for nearly a 12 months to receives a commission again the acquisition value.
As is at all times the case with bank cards, nothing is really free; the financial institution will extract the worth of no matter you suppose you’re getting without spending a dime by hook or by crook.
Apple Card is a superbly affordable cashback bank card with no charges, particularly in the event you purchase lots of Apple stuff. In the event you had been going to get an Apple Card anyway and you recognize you’re going to use it about 3 times per week for the subsequent 12 months, and you may repay these AirPods Professional 3 earlier than you begin racking up month-to-month curiosity, then there’s no cause to not benefit from this provide. However the stipulations and situations on this promotion ought to most likely not persuade anybody to get Apple Card that wasn’t already going to do it anyway.

