Apple is reportedly abandoning its plans to turn the iPhone into a subscription

Apple suspends its plans to offer the iPhone for a monthly subscription . The company was first said to be exploring subscription to devices but like the company’s “buy now, pay later” product, it seems that it eventually proved to be a big problem.

The hardware subscription has been rumored to work in a similar way to existing options e.g Or Apple Card monthly installments, where you pay for a new phone or other Apple device with monthly payments, and in some cases you get the option to upgrade to a new device without changing your subscription fees. Unlike these payment methods, which apply your payments to a one-time loan from Citizen One or Goldman Sachs, your Apple subscription will be managed through your Apple Account and use any payment methods you’ve already connected.

Apple’s expectation was that if it faced the cost of an iPhone head-on, people would upgrade their phones more often and increase the company’s recurring revenue. The problem is that just as with Apple Pay Later, which lets you split Apple Pay purchases into four smaller payments, the hardware subscription would have required Apple to “follow the same regulations as credit card companies.” Bloomberg He says. This is an additional audit that the company did not want to invite.

There’s also the potential strain that device subscriptions could put on Apple’s relationships with carriers. You can buy iPhone 16 From T-Mobile or Verizon with an installment plan that may technically be different than a subscription, but it sure feels like one when you pay monthly.

The subscription to Apple devices has not been officially announced, but it reflects what could be a larger retreat from the hassles of financial services. Apple Pay later was and replaced with access to Verified Loans in Apple Pay as part of iOS 18. Apple Card is also said to be in limbo as Apple searches for a partner .