Apple was seen working on its hardware subscription plan last year, which will let users pay a set monthly fee to access the most recent gadgets like the iPhone and other gadgets on a regular basis. According to rumours, the new subscription service would go live either by the end of 2018 or in 2023.
According to a new source, the company’s plans to offer the iPhone as a subscription service have not been abandoned despite internal setbacks.
Despite many “engineering and technical difficulties” that have caused the service to be delayed, Apple is still working on providing iPhones as part of a hardware subscription service, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. First, it was anticipated that the subscription will be made accessible with the iPhone 13 or iPhone 14 in 2021 or 2022, respectively. That, however, didn’t take place.
Along with its subscription strategy, Apple is also working on Apple Pay Monthly Instalments. The two plans may appear to be somewhat similar, but they are not the same, according to Gurman’s report, because the monthly fee for the iPhone hardware programme will not be equivalent to the price of the device divided over 12 or 24 months, as it would be in monthly instalments.
Instead of a cost that would indicate the user would eventually own the item, he says it would be a “yet-to-be-determined monthly price that depends on which device the user picks.” Gurman believes that the iPhone subscription might become available in March or April if the company is still working on the subscription model. On a recent earnings call, Tim Cook said that the price increase for the new iPhone won’t be a problem and that “consumers may probably be persuaded to spend more.”
The new subscription model could increase sales for the business since it might persuade some customers who are hesitant to purchase Apple products due to their high price to pay monthly membership fees instead of a single down payment or monthly instalments, which can be more taxing.
