Apple is reportedly developing a new hardware subscription service for customers. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the iPhone 13 maker is working on announcing a subscription service that will allow customers to pay a monthly subscription fee in exchange for an iPhone or any other Apple product. This step will make owning a device like paying for apps and services every month.
If this is true, Apple will introduce a subscription service for its hardware products for the first time. The company currently offers monthly and yearly subscriptions for its software services such as iCloud, Apple Arcade, Apple TV+, etc. Let’s take a closer look at the rumored Apple subscription service for iPhone and other products.
Rumored Apple iPhone Subscription Service
Apple is likely to announce an iPhone subscription service for the first time, giving a big boost to its regular sales. Until now, the company has sold devices directly at full price or in installments and subsidies to telecom operators. The subscription service will help the company increase revenue and make it easier for customers to pay for devices in batches.
The iPhone has been the company’s biggest source of revenue. Last year, it brought in more than $192 billion for the company, which is more than half of the company’s revenue. Software services such as iCloud, TV+, Music, Arcade, etc. contributed 18.7% of the company’s total revenue.
The hardware product subscription service is still under development. Apple plans to allow customers to sign up for hardware with the same Apple ID and App Store account they use today to purchase apps and subscribe to services. This will be different from a typical EMI scheme where the amount is divided over 12 or 24 months. The subscription fee for the equipment has not yet been determined. The company discussed the possibility of giving users of the program the ability to change their devices to new models when new hardware comes out.
The American tech giant also planned to connect its hardware subscription services to its currently available Apple One bundle plans. Bundled plans allow users to subscribe to multiple services such as TV+, Arcade, Music, Fitness+, and iCloud storage for a lower monthly fee.
“Apple has been working on a subscription program for several months, but the project was recently put on the backburner to launch a buy-now-pay-later service faster,”the report said. It goes on to say that the subscription service is expected to launch in late 2022. However, the company could delay the announcement and reschedule it to 2023, or cancel it altogether.