Apple could soon turn the iPhone into a recurring subscription service | Hacker News Reader

Apple could soon turn the iPhone into a recurring subscription service

arstechnica.com

16 pointspseudolus31 comments

People will complain about the new subscription world but the concept has been around for decades. Ideally, I would like to upgrade my phone every year to the latest spec. Admittedly, I'm in the minority, and many people will see this as wasteful. Our phones are now the devices we spend the most time on. I can get ~30% of my work done on my phone. Even at $1000/year I can easily justify the cost relative to the value and productivity I get from the device.

I see a few advantages to using a subscription service:

- have the latest iPhone every year

- iCloud storage, Apple Arcade, Apple Music, etc are all bundled in

- Easy replacement if damaged or lost (Apple still has decent customer service)

Yeah but is it work 1k a year when you can get an android phone for 200$ a year?

For someone who can afford $1000 a year, probably. Not to mention that because it's a trade in, the actual cost would be more like $500 a year.

A genius move, the avg. iPhone ownership time has been increasing to 2-3 yrs.

It will get rid of waste and probably decrease prices for entry models if the gain for upgrades can compensate for the loss while winning more market share from the competition

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/17/smartphone-users-are-waiting...

At a thousand dollars a year, you can just buy the latest iPhone. Maybe not the Pro Max, but the Pro model.

Edit: actually the trade in probably covers enough to get to the pro max, even after including the various Apple Arcade and iCloud subscriptions.

Edit 2: they already have an AppleCare plus annual upgrade program. This is probably that plus Apple sponsored financing of the original phone.

Apple taking back their devices and finding another use for their old parts or disposing of them in a standardized manner seems less wasteful. All you are really doing is subsidizing a cheaper used phone market.

Extremely surface level take; seems like a response to right to repair

A large basis of that argument is you own the device. Well, not with this anymore

Just a little more honest in that Apple is loaning you a device/experience

.. iPhone Upgrade Program is already basically this? Guess they'll just be formalizing the non-ownership :)

So leasing a car is always bad?

From a cost perspective, yes it usually is.

Risks are involved for the leasor and the associated costs have to be socialized and passed on to the leasees.

For example with a phone --- what happens if a person loses their iPhone and just stops paying and buys a cheap Android phone instead? How will Apple maintain their exorbitant profit margin on hardware if there are too many of these cases?

Are you saying a lessor has no recourse?

In some cases, yes --- the leasor may have no recourse that makes any economic sense. The cost of legal "recourse" may exceed the value of the item.

What happens if the leasee declares bankruptcy --- or if he dies?

For a variety of reasons, a certain percentages of leases will not work out as expected. Apple's most sensible "recourse" may be to charge everyone extra to cover the cost.

Obvisously no...but if the only way to use an iphone is to rent it from Apple then yes that is bad.

I have no actual data but I'd be willing to bet a lot of actual money that of the universe of people (not businesses) that lease cars the majority are making bad financial decisions. Of course, this depends on your definition of bad.

I know one person who I recommended leasing to. They wanted to upgrade their car every 2 years. I think that's a bad financial decision, but you may as well lease then.

Lots of businesses prefer to lease instead of buy because it simplifies the accounting --- even though they know it costs more.

A lease is a straightforward business expense that the tax authorities find really hard to question.

But using autos as an example, purchasing instead of leasing can open up a can of worms that can take years to get resolved. You paid too much when you bought from your cousin's auto dealership. Your depreciation method wasn't valid. Your liquidation price was too low when you sold the old used vehicles back to your cousin's dealership.

Lots of potential questions that can consume lots of time and money to get resolved.

95% of the time probably. The other 5% you play the game and come out ahead

Made a nice down payment at the end of a lease that was super upside down in my favor in 2013. The only thing that sucked was I had to actually buy it and re-title it as the lease company was quoting a different (much, much higher) buyout value to the dealer I was trying to trade it into. Sleazy stuff.

Not sure where you’re coming from. I use the IUP :) but in most personal cases leasing is usually the worse option financially.

You will own nothing and you will be happy (renting everything).

Thinking variety in the store is freedom was intentional propagandizing in the first place, to get people into factories, people spending at Walmarts of the world

Similar to how Turings model for computing is not the only one, your model of freedom is not the only one

A free market does not owe you the social contract you prefer

> variety in the store is freedom

Freedom is Slavery.

It's rumors now, but this seems obviously to be an additional financing model and not the only way iPhones will be sold.

The article talked about the Xbox, but I'm pretty sure I can still buy one for an up front payment.

I think it's odd anyone would assume this would be the only way it's sold too, no?

I think that would be an odd transition indeed.

With that said, I understand a certain apprehension with this... in a future sense.

It may lead to a time where more and more things are essentially leased. Maybe to that eventual end.

This may attract a lot of favor, cheaper things are nice. The investors are happy because of recurring revenue. In exchange however, we lose control.

There's a good metaphor I can't quite remember, but it's based around a pile of marbles. Each one alone isn't of much interest, but it's a big pile

Great for Business offering Phones to employees as well. Bundling Apple Care+, iPhone, iCloud.

I feel like the Apple demographic will definitely go for this (even if they complain initially)

It's smart way for them to get people to upgrade every year, which has been in decline from what I read

The downside I guess you will not be able to sell the device or give it away. You will have to send it back and Apple will make a tidy profit on the refurb market - or put a new chip in it and sell at as the "new" iPhone SE

Apple can go ahead and burn the planet for this and the apple demographic will still go for it at a kidney and a lung

I mean we don't really own our hardware anyway so I guess what's the difference at this point. We have no right to repair so might as well just reframe that problem entirely.

So basically like leasing a car?

No. More like renting a car, you can give it back whenever and you can never buy it out.

So Apple can limit the availability of perfectly useful 'last year model' phones in the used market that competes with their new models. Evil genius (aka good capitalist).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com