Shop for coverage and you will meet four different terms, often used as if they were the same thing: extended warranty, protection plan, service contract, and insurance. They are not the same thing. Here is the untangling.
Service contract: the legal term
A service contract is the actual legal instrument behind most product coverage sold in the United States. It is an agreement where a company (the obligor) promises to repair or replace your product for covered failures during the contract term. Service contracts are regulated, the obligor is named in the terms, and the document spells out exactly which failures are covered.
Protection plan: the consumer name
A protection plan is what a service contract is called on a product page. Same instrument, friendlier name. When you add FlexProtect at checkout, the thing you are buying is a service contract, and the plan documents say so plainly: FlexProtect plans are obligated by AIG WarrantyGuard, Inc. and administered by Service Net Warranty, LLC.
Extended warranty: the loose one
Technically, only the manufacturer can extend its own warranty. What gets marketed as an extended warranty from anyone else is almost always a service contract. The term survives because everyone understands roughly what it means, but you will not find it doing legal work in your documents. If someone sells you an "extended warranty," find out who the obligor is. That name matters more than the label.
Insurance: a different product entirely
Insurance is a separate, differently regulated category that typically covers loss and theft in addition to damage, and involves policies, premiums, and insurance regulators. A service contract is not an insurance policy, and a protection plan that covers drops and spills is not doing so as insurance. FlexProtect plans are service contracts, not insurance. The distinction sounds academic until you file a claim, because it determines which document governs and which company answers.
The one question that cuts through all of it
Whatever the label says, ask: who is obligated to fix my product, and where is that written? For FlexProtect plans the answer is in your plan documents, available any time in the customer portal. For what the coverage actually handles day to day, see what accidental damage from handling means.