The average iPhone isn't exactly cheap to buy, and with new ones coming out every year, it can become a costly endeavour to keep up to date with the latest tech.
Apple is keen to stay ahead of the curve, and it was reportedly considering an iPhone subscription service that would effectively let you 'rent' your handsets.
According to Bloomberg, Apple has scrapped the iPhone subscription service plan.
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Having reportedly been in development since 2022, the iPhone subscription service would've worked similar to subscribing to an app where you paid a monthly fee.
Better yet, you would get a new phone every year, letting you upgrade to the latest model.
Sources have told Bloomberg's Mark Gurman that Apple is winding down its efforts to release the subscription service plan. Apparently the team has been disbanded and assigned to other projects.
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This came as Apple tightened its purse strings and canceled its Pay Later offerings earlier in 2024. The subscription service was overseen by the Apple Pay group, which halted the Klarna-like ability to make purchases and pay them off in multiple installments.
Bloomberg first spoke about the idea of a subscription service in 2022, with expectations that it was going to be released by the end of that year. It was delayed until 2023, but as the site points out, it was then delayed again due to 'numerous setbacks'. These included software bugs and regulatory concerns, and while execs sent it back to the drawing board, the scheme was eventually scrapped.
When Apple first started work on the service, it was hoping to sell more iPhones and earn more through recurring revenue by locking us into the Apple product ecosystem. As the iPhone accounts for over half of Apple's annual sales, it's an idea that makes perfect sense.
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Still, it's thought that an in-house subscription service has rattled Apple's wireless carrier partners who rely on the big business of contract phones.
It would've also potentially competed with Apple's own iPhone Upgrade Program which splits the cost of a handset over two years, as well as the Apple Card Monthly Installments scheme.
The subscription service would've used an in-house financial infrastructure and used loans provided by Apple itself. Apple apparently tested the system on its own Pay group employees earlier this year.
Apple Pay Later was canned due to tighter rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and with calls for these 'buy now, pay later' companies to adhere to the same standards as credit card companies, it all sounds like a bit of a headache for Apple.
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Remembering that Apple partnered with Affirm Holdings Inc. and Klarna Bank AB to keep offering pay-later options without being regulated, it's possible that Apple's iPhone subscription service could be revived elsewhere. Still, Bloomberg maintains there are no current plans.