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Other Would apple introduce their own iPhone lease program worldwide?

Shirasaki

Shirasaki

macrumors P6
Original poster
May 16, 2015
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Seeing the industry giants and politicians gearing much more towards subscription, renting etc rather than owning, when do you guys think apple will lease the iPhone to you for either a one-off 5 year fee that is the same as if you buy a brand new iPhone today, or offer apple branded upgrade program and you pick your own cellular provider? A.k.a, when owning an iPhone and passing it to someone else is a thing of the past and second hand market will disappear forever?

Let me give an example here. iPhone 13 pro max 1TB costs $1600. Based on the above hypothetical scenario, it would be that you pay $1600 for a 5 year period where you use the iPhone. 5 years after, you are required to return the iPhone back to apple and you pay another $1600 for whatever iPhone that worth that much at that time, rinse and repeat. Apple always keep the iPhone and you don’t own anything.
 
valkyrie917 said:
Why would Apple want to take back a 5 year old phone it can not resell?
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“Recycle” of course lol. (No just kidding. It will go to landfill)
The core here is to prevent anyone from owning anything.
 
danny842003 said:
why?
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Because for those billionaires, seeing people own stuff is terrible. That’s why.
Apple would be more than happy to just get $1600 for every five years for free, rather than providing a physical item that needs to sell.
 
Shirasaki said:
“Recycle” of course lol. (No just kidding. It will go to landfill)
The core here is to prevent anyone from owning anything.
Click to expand...

But why? Apple has zero benefits here. it delays their profit and costs them $ to dispose of these old phones. If you want to take your time paying off a phone, there are numerous 0% APR options via carrier, iUP, Apple Card installment plan. But Apple doesn’t want this phone back after 5 years.
 
valkyrie917 said:
But why? Apple has zero benefits here. it delays their profit and costs them $ to dispose of these old phones. If you want to take your time paying off a phone, there are numerous 0% APR options via carrier, iUP, Apple Card installment plan. But Apple doesn’t want this phone back after 5 years.
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Maybe after a year? Two years? Idk.
It’s just this idea is looming around my mind for quite some time.
And iUP isn’t widely available worldwide, same for carrier and APR.
 
Shirasaki said:
Because for those billionaires, seeing people own stuff is terrible. That’s why.
Apple would be more than happy to just get $1600 for every five years for free, rather than providing a physical item that needs to sell.
Click to expand...
I don’t know the detailed share owning of Apple but it’s a publicly traded company these billionaires are actually many people. I probably own shares in Apple indirectly through my superannuation.
It seems like a real tin foil the rich want everything idea.
 
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It doesn’t seem right to have to lease a $1000 gadget. A $36,000 car, yeah sure, but an iPhone?
 
Not a terrible idea. However, Apple has few reasons to cede upfront profits to consumers, ruling out attractive lease terms. Abundant financing options also make leases less appealing.
 
I upgrade my iPhone every year and I always purchase outright. I understand what you are saying but for a business to “make” money I can’t see them ever going down this route. Especially when they sell as many devices as they do already for a huge profit margin. 😁
 
Shirasaki said:
when do you guys think apple will lease the iPhone to you
Click to expand...
I think the limiting factor, at least in the US, is the carriers. Leases and trade-in deals are two of the few attractions carriers can use to compete for users now. If an iLease™ or :apple:Lease became available, Apple would become more of a competitor to the carriers than it already is. That could lead to carriers becoming less willing to give in to Apple on other issues (say, keeping crapware off new phones or curtailing the ability to activate a new phone through Apple).

Financial concerns probably are not keeping Apple from leasing hardware. Apple has ample access to capital and accounting expertise. It could easily structure a lease program to have any effect it wanted on its reported results.
 
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There has to be an incentive to the user, like automatic yearly upgrade or every 24 months.
 
Don't think it's doable when they're bundling streaming services as a perk in some carriers now, lots of people wouldn't want to pay for all that separately. Makes more sense when people are otherwise using third-party toner for their printers, third-party coffee pods, and buying equipment on impulse and then not committing to using it/thus not supporting the service it's designed for.

Which is not as big of a problem for Apple because of the iTunes Store and the majority of people using it. The main problem they've had is people fixing the devices with third-party parts, but even a company like them, that charges too much (to some people) for the next tier in storage, now lets AppleCare be financed by the month to remedy a huge chunk of that.
 
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