There are not many details about the program, but it will reportedly launch on the iPhone before being extended to other devices. As it stands, Apple already offers the iPhone Upgrade Program that lets you split the cost of a new iPhone with AppleCare + over two years. It is essentially a loan that requires credit check and monthly payments to a bank, with the possibility of upgrading to a new model (and loan) after 12 payments. If you upgrade regularly, this is a great program. Of course, you can get more for a one-year-old iPhone by selling it privately or to a third-party reseller, but nothing beats the convenience of upgrading to the app: order your new iPhone, put your old one in the box, and you’re done. There is no extra cost or inconvenience. A subscription service will be different, most likely with a catchy name. (I’ll call it iPhone + for the purposes of this article, but it’s just a guess.) According to a Bloomberg report, the service will be less of a loan and more of a recurring charge like Apple TV +. If you sign up, you will pay a monthly fee until you decide to quit, such as Apple Music or TV +. Mark Gurman speculates that this could mean that you will end up paying more for the phone than you would otherwise, but it seems likely that Apple will create security valves to notify you when payments are over, offer an exchange, or will just automatically reduce your account. But that does not mean you will not continue to pay more for each device. As such, Apple’s iPhone upgrade program starts at $ 39.50 for the iPhone 13 and $ 54.08 for the iPhone 13 Pro Max. That’s $ 948 and $ 1,297.92, respectively, if you keep your iPhone for two whole years. If not, you will be trading and starting over with a new phone. That way, you can pay as little as $ 474 before trading on your iPhone and getting a new one. Apple probably wants to change that with this new service. IDG
Payments forever
For an iPhone + subscription service to work, it must have some value. Apple already sells tens of millions of iPhones each year without the need for a subscription service, so it should offer something exciting with the iPhone. Get the Google Pixel Pass. For $ 55 a month, you get a Pixel 6 Pro with Preferred Care, 200 GB of Google One storage, YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium, Google Play Pass and Google Store promotions. It is a two-year subscription that offers savings of about $ 12 in relation to the purchase of each item separately. The problem is that you can not upgrade until you have paid the full price of the phone. An iPhone subscription service would probably only allow you to upgrade after the full cost of the phone has been paid. Michael Simon / IDG An iPhone + subscription service would probably be similar. Like the Apple One packages, it would probably provide an incentive to stay and stay. For example, the Apple One Premier costs $ 30 a month for Apple Music Family, Apple TV +, Apple Arcade, Apple News, Apple Fitness + and 2 TB of iCloud storage. Separately, they will cost $ 50 a month, so the savings are significant. Apple could do something similar with its iPhone subscription program, grouping one or more of its services and upgrading iCloud storage for a fixed fee. You might get Apple TV + or extra iCloud storage for free. The question is in the upgrades. Would it allow Apple to upgrade after 12 payments like the current program? Or would you be locked in to pay the full price of an iPhone? My guess is the last one. Apple subscription service will be about both lock-in and convenience, and a subscription service would be a way to ensure that people will continue to pay for an iPhone for as long as they use it. Think of it like Apple Music — you do not actually have any of the songs in your library, but as long as you continue to pay a monthly fee, it is as if you have. The interesting part would be with other products. Apple does not offer upgrade programs for other products, so a Mac or Apple Watch subscription could be tempting for those who do not want or do not have the money to spend on a new high-priced device. The purpose of any subscription service is to make you pay forever, and extending an iPhone + app to other devices would be a great way to do that. A Mac can cost several thousand dollars more than an iPhone, and the prospect of paying a much smaller bill for a much longer period of time would be a way for Apple to attract more people to a higher-end Mac. Apple already offers a good lock on its existing products and services. But with a new hardware subscription service, we could end up paying for our products forever and never owning any of them.
