Apple taking its in-store iPhone push too far by promoting upgrades instead of repairs?

“It’s no secret that Apple has been pushing iPhone upgrades like never before over the last several months,” Chance Miller writes for 9to5Mac. “Yesterday, however, I visited an Apple store to have my iPhone XS Max serviced, and I realized just how far Apple has taken its iPhone upgrade pitch.”
“As anyone who visits an Apple store knows, you’re first greeted by a friendly person with an iPad at the store’s entrance. I told the greeter that I had a Genius Bar appointment for my iPhone XS Max, and she asked for a brief description of my problem,” Miller writes. “I explained that my device was randomly shutting down and wouldn’t come back on for several hours. As soon as I finished the explanation, the greeter said, ‘Have you considered upgrading to a new iPhone recently?'”

After I explained, she said “have you considered upgrading to a new iPhone recently?”
I guess she thought the phone in my hand was an iPhone X, not an XS.
But since when is it Apple Store policy to pitch an upgrade to someone there to get an existing iPhone repaired?
— Chance Miller (@ChanceHMiller) February 8, 2019

“Bloomberg reported something similar earlier this week: ‘Apple asked retail employees to promote the new iPhones using methods not seen before. Technicians were told to push iPhone upgrades to consumers with out-of-warranty devices. Senior sales staff had to make sure other retail workers were suggesting upgrades, and easels offering generous trade-in deals for the iPhone XR were erected in stores,'” Miller writes. “If Apple wants to turn its retail stores into selling machines akin to car dealerships, that’s its prerogative. In my opinion, however, there’s a certain line that shouldn’t be crossed.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Sounds like a direction that wouldn’t sit well with a former Burberry CEO who had already amassed more than enough money to last several lifetimes. It also sounds like yet another reason (along with over-crowding and noise) to avoid Apple Retail Stores, the very places we used to seek out and make special plans to visit.
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