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Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service
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People do it all the time, they rent or lease cars, for example. In essence a lease is a type of subscription, just at the end of the lease term the car doesn't get automatically replaced, you have to pay off the lump sum, pay for excess mileage and damage etc.
Many phone companies did/do it as well, you pay an extra vig every month and you get a new phone every two years. Depending on the model, there is often a lump sum up front involved, if it is a premium phone, but mid range and low end phones often require a 1€ payment. After 2 years, you get a new one.
I thought Apple also had such a service in the past?
That said, most carriers had moved away from this model (at least over here), but some seem to be slowly testing the waters again, although they seem to be separate from the contract, it is more of an add-on Hire Purchase scheme these days.
Erm, maintenance contracts are ubiquitous.
But, I do agree that they can be odd sometimes, like buying hardware and then having a software license sub to use the hardware, for instance professional network gear.
Nobody could understand it as it was pulled before it was released, which is what this article was about.
Trust me, you're paying for that router, its in your monthly payments. Some companies actually itemise it as a monthly recurring cost, others clearly just include it in what you pay for your subscription. These companies are NOT charities.
This will assure Apple with selling New iPhones every year without getting reduction in the count since those who subscribe would continue to get new iPhones every year (I am sure this won’t be cheap), this way Apple can stop spending for the marketing their new iPhones every year and also slowly increasing the prices in the subscription would be far more surreptitious than increasing $100 or $300 every other iteration. Apple will again resell the year old iPhones as refurbished with the increased margin across markets (without having to pay Taxes in many cases). But main losers are those who subscribe not Apple because they will be always paying for the new iPhones every month and can never realize its cost financially instead they will be bank rolling Apple for its another 5 Trillion Dollars empire.
It’s obvious why. The software for the subscription service REQUIRED the Apple Silicon EXTREME series chips.
Totally not because neither were ever going to be done.
Totally not because neither were ever going to be done.
On the car leasing issue, I have always read that if you are not able to write off the monthly cost on your taxes, leasing does not make financial sense.
The one time I looked at leasing, it wasn't worth it. I was looking at an MG F (mid 90s sports convertible), my employer had a special offer for employees, we could lease it for 99UKP a month. When I asked for a quote, they baulked at the mileage I was doing, monthly leasing costs came out at around 1,800UKP a month! (Conservatively, I was doing 40,000 business miles a year, plus probably another 10-15,000 private)
I stuck with my 3 year old Passat and drove another 150,000 miles in it, before I sold it to my father.
As I stated I'm talking about a subscription service for Apple Hardware, not just iPhones. For example a subscription that always gives me the latest MBP, iPad Pro, and iPhone Pro. I could see a lot of tech people springing for something like that, especially if the updates were automatic.
Leasing can have good and bad terms just like any other purchase. There are more variables so it can be hard for people to figure out what is a good leasing deal though. One the first iPhone apps I wrote almost 15 years ago was an app that helped the user understand if leasing or buying was a better deal.
People would just stop using iPhones and use something else. Look at BMW's subscription to use seat heat. People told them to F off and they dropped it.
With car leasing, at least you often still have the option to buy the car at lease end at the residual price. I don’t think the Apple hardware subscription was going to offer something like that.
Depends on the lease. Some leases can be heavily subsidized as a way to try to “lock” people into a particular brand long term. It's always good to crunch numbers and compare.
Leasing can also be beneficial to the lessee if the car experienced a large drop in value due to unexpected market conditions or other factors.
Some may also be able to qualify for EV tax credits when leasing but not when buying.
10 years ago subscriptions would have made more sense. The iPhone is too refined at this point to justify yearly upgrades, except for the niche market that would want it.
That's exactly what I was thinking 🧐you mean ... this?
iPhone Upgrade Program
Get a new iPhone every year, and the protection of AppleCare+ with the iPhone Upgrade Program. Buy now or visit an Apple Store today.www.apple.com
Apple surely won’t undercut any carrier for this. Knowing Apple they go for at least the 37% appletax that comes with all their products.
I know they will not charge less but was wondering if they would add a financing or interest charge.
In the UK, if you don't have perfect credit score, it's impossible to buy from Apple with instalments, either via Barclays or PayPal (especially the PayPal set up is rather diabolical because it automatically charges your card if PayPal don't approve the instalments).
You forgot to mention the minimum of 16gb internal storage 😉It’s obvious why. The software for the subscription service REQUIRED the Apple Silicon EXTREME series chips.
Totally not because neither were ever going to be done.
Carriers already offer this. $10/month for AT&T NextUp anytime. Upgrade up to 3 times a year without a promotion, or up to once a year with a promotion attached to your new phone.
Before anyone comments that carriers in other countries "don't do that," I really don't care.
Before anyone comments that carriers in other countries "don't do that," I really don't care.
You're counting "super wealthy" entirely wrong. Those with high net worth mostly don't "acquire things". On the other hand, those who want to LOOK wealthy; those are the people who are acquiring things.
Learn the difference.
I know super wealthy people who live in modest neighborhoods, drive hondas and toyotas, and DON'T have a beach home. And they are not "dictating rules".
Yep. That's what you get when you stand up a cloud server of your own on Azure, AWS, or the like. You're actually leasing software AND hardware, and it's all running in somebody's data center somewhere in Kansas or Nebraska.
Yep, and NZXT is getting itself a new orifice courtesy of Steve and Gamer's Nexus. Well deserved, too; because NZXT allowed a 3rd party company to create contracts with terms that are basically ... well, they're illegal.
And they further rotationally-fastened the dog by making their ordering website completely unusable.
Right; NZXT's original plan was to not offer rent-to-own.
For sure. Every time a friend ignores my advice to avoid leases, they fret and worry about putting miles on their leased car. I swear, they have it worse than EV owners have range-anxiety!
There's always a new generation that hasn't yet figured out that leasing is only a good financial deal for the lessor, not the lessee.
I remember that BMW drama. I was looking at a sporty BMW EV the last time I was shopping for a used car...back in March/April just this year. When I read about all of the subscription cost add-ons, I backed away from that bad deal, and I backed away very fast.
The way to deal with that is to have 50 people back away like I did, and for all 50 to tell the salesman THAT'S the reason they didn't get the sale. If 50 people reject a product due to something undesirable, such as a subscription for heated seats, running lights, or whatever, that salesman is going to tell his manager to not let more of that product come to the retailer. If EVERY salesman tells management they just can't sell any BMWs with this "feature", then eventually the sales management gives the manufacturer an earful. In a hundred years, the manufacturer finds some other fraud to perpetrate.
These type of predatory arrangements are disgusting and show how morally bankrupt Apple has become under TC.
The most socio-economically disadvantaged - often also people that have poor impulse control and understanding of the contracts they are signing - are taken advantage of so that Tim "I have no product ideas" Cook can inflate the share price.
PS I'm fully pro-capitalist - but I also have business ethics and a moral compass.