Apple’s long-rumored iPhone subscription service has been scrapped
- Apple has reportedly abandoned plans for an iPhone subscription service
- This was originally rumored to launch in 2022, but apparently suffered numerous setbacks
- A similar service is already offered in the form of the iPhone Upgrade Program
We’ve been hearing talk of an iPhone subscription service since 2022, but now this rumored service – which lets you get new iPhones with a subscription – has apparently been abandoned by Apple before it could even launch.
This is according to Mark Gurman, who writes for Bloomberg (via 9to5Mac) and mentioning “people familiar with the matter”. Gurman claims that this decision is “part of a broader shift in the way Apple approaches payment services.”
As a reminder, this iPhone subscription service reportedly lets you pay a monthly fee, and then swap your iPhone for a new one every year. But you probably would never have owned the iPhone – you’d have to send it back to get a new one, and probably also have to send it back if you canceled the subscription, so you’d essentially be leasing it instead of paying for it. decreases over time.
While this service may have proven useful to some buyers, the claim that Apple has abandoned the idea isn’t entirely surprising.
Bugs, regulations and competition
For starters, this service had reportedly already faced numerous delays and issues. Initial reports suggested the service would launch around the time of the iPhone 14, but Gurman claims issues such as software bugs and regulatory issues held that back.
Gurman speculates that the idea was ultimately abandoned due to the fact that it would have competed with — and potentially upset — Apple’s wireless network partners, and because of stricter regulations by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Although it may not even be a service that is needed at all, as Apple already offers an iPhone upgrade program. This allows you to pay off your iPhone in monthly installments and optionally upgrade to a new model before you finish paying it off if you trade in your old one.
So the end result would likely be the same for buyers, except that the iPhone Upgrade Program will allow you to eventually pay it off and own the phone, which apparently wouldn’t be the case with this rumored subscription service.
Of course, since Apple itself never announced this iPhone subscription service, we have to take all this information about it with a grain of salt: it could be that it was never planned at all, or it could still be in the works, and exactly how it works. might work, might also differ from what we’ve heard.
But Gurman has an excellent track record on Apple information, so we’re inclined to believe it was once planned, and now isn’t.