Apple rumored to bring iPhone subscription service

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports Apple is readying a new way to purchase iPhones and other Apple hardware with a new subscription-based service. In essence, users will be paying a fixed fee each month and get an iPhone of their choice with free upgrades when new models are announced.

This service will be different from the current installment plans offered by Apple and carriers as it would be a set fee paid each month and not the cost of the phone divided by 12, 24 or 36 months like the installments. The iPhone subscription service will be tied to users' existing Apple ID accounts and may also bundle free Apple Care and even Apple One services which include Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, iCloud+, Apple News+, and Apple Fitness+.

Gurman expects the new subscription service to start by the end of this year or early into 2023 with iPhones and eventually move to the rest of Apple’s hardware lineup including iPads, MacBooks and Apple Watch. No specific price was mentioned just yet with speculations ranging from $20 to $40 per month. It remains to be seen how subscription cancellations will affect the associated end costs for users.

Selling phones as a subscription-based service is not entirely new as Google already operates its Pixel Pass program in the US which lets you choose between a Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro bundled with Google's own first-party services for $45 to $55 per month.

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