Apple wants to "rent" out iPhones, hardware subscription services are the future?

What are the reasons for not buying an iPhone? The answer to this question can be described as varied: "not used to the ecology of apples", "hope for greater freedom", "too expensive". Of all the answers, "too expensive" is the answer that Xiao Lei has heard the most times, taking the iPhone 13 series as an example, the cheapest iPhone 13 mini 128G version of the official website starts at 5199 yuan, and this price can already be purchased in the Android phone to buy any brand of flagship mobile phone.

What if you take the second place and don't consider the latest model? The iPhone 12 series is currently only available on the official website of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini, of which the iPhone 12 mini 64G version is priced at 4499 yuan, the iPhone 11 64G version is priced at 3999 yuan, and the minimum price of the iPhone SE (third generation) is 3499 yuan.

Regardless of the discounts of the e-commerce platform, the minimum cost of wanting to join the iOS ecosystem is 3499 yuan, and in the relevant sales report of the mobile phone market, the mobile phone in the price range of 1000-2000 yuan has always been the main source of sales, followed by the 3000 yuan price range, in fact, for most mobile phone users, the price of the iPhone is beyond the budget.

Apple has also been deliberately lowering the threshold for iPhone entry, in addition to consciously reducing the starting price, while giving channel providers more pricing space, but also launched installment payment, operator cooperation and other preferential methods, so that users can be more flexible to purchase.

Of course, these measures still can not change the price of an iPhone far more than most Android phones, in the Android ecology gradually matured, the configuration is comparable to or even surpass the iPhone, the competitiveness of the iPhone inevitably declined. If Apple wants to maintain its market share and continue to expand its user base, it must think of some new ways to increase sales and reduce the entry threshold for users.

However, Apple has already used methods such as price reduction, installment, and operator discounts, so what other ways can lower the entry threshold?

Apple is considering a hardware subscription system

How to lower the barrier to entry for users? Apple's answer this time may be "subscription system", subscription system is not unfamiliar to today's netizens, from Apple Music to various software, only need to pay a certain amount of money every month We can continue to enjoy the services and features provided by the software.

According to media exposure, Apple hopes to apply the subscription system to hardware devices, so that users can pay a certain amount of money every month to obtain the right to use the device, which is equivalent to "renting" a device from Apple's hand. Moreover, users can replace their devices with new models at any time during the subscription period without having to pay the subsequent tariffs of the original subscription plan.

Although the subscription system that pays every month looks similar to installment payment, installment payment still needs to pay the original amount until the end of the installment bill or pay the bill in advance after the user no longer uses the mobile phone, while Apple's subscription system has a higher degree of freedom, which is obviously more cost-effective for those who have to buy new iPhones every year.

In fact, this is not the first time that Apple has been exposed to consider the hardware subscription system, in the Apple AR device exposure news in February this year, there are insiders who said that Apple is considering launching AR devices in a subscription system, bundling Apple's AR content members to sell together.

If this news is true, then Apple may have been considering the subscription system sales method of hardware very early, and will be fully promoted in the mainstream hardware devices of Apple's ecology, from the currently known information, iPhone and iPad two product lines are in the list of consideration for promoting the subscription system, plus Apple's next generation of main AR devices, then basically includes 80% of Apple's future annual sales of hardware devices.

For Apple's hardware subscription system, everyone should be most concerned about the price, but unfortunately there is no news about the subscription cost in the currently exposed information, and even the hardware subscription system itself is still in the discussion stage, it is reported that Apple may launch a hardware subscription system as early as 2022 when releasing a new iPhone, and it may also be launched in 2023, and does not rule out the possibility of canceling the hardware subscription system.

If the hardware subscription system will really be released with the iPhone 14 series, then as the autumn conference date approaches, there should be more information revealed.

Is subscription the future?

In recent years, the subscription system has gradually become the mainstream of the electronic consumer market, many of the original outright sales of products have gradually turned to the subscription system, in the field of games, subscription system has even become the next focus of development of many game companies, Ubisoft, EA, Microsoft and other game giants have launched subscription services, in exchange for users continue to pay.

Compared with the traditional buyout system, the subscription system has many advantages, such as lower payment costs, more flexible payment cycles, etc., these are for users, for enterprises, although the subscription system can not bring them a one-time high income, but it has a long-term effect, can allow enterprises to obtain persistent funds into the account, you can try to develop more time-consuming and cost-consuming products.

Of course, the subscription system is not without disadvantages, the relationship between users and products in the subscription system is "rental", when the user no longer pays the subscription fee, it will no longer be able to use the products provided in the subscription service, in other words, the user has no "ownership" of the product. Therefore, if the user is only interested in a product in the subscription service and is not keen on pursuing a new product, it is better to use the subscription system than to buy out a product directly.

The shortcomings of the subscription system in the software field are also true in the hardware field, for users who are not keen on changing machines, the final total price of a long subscription payment must be more than a one-time payment, and the ownership of the device does not belong to itself, and if it is damaged or lost, it may need to pay additional fees.

In fact, Apple is not the first to consider the introduction of hardware subscription system manufacturers, last year Google launched a subscription service called Pixel Pass, users only need to pay a certain fee every month to directly get a Pixel mobile phone and the corresponding Google service.

Users can freely choose different grades of Pixel Pass, the most basic Pixel Pass is only $45 per month, users will get a Pixel 6 mobile phone and 200GB of Google One cloud storage space, Google Store discounts and Google Play Pass and other services, if you also need YouTube Premium or more cloud storage and other members, then you can choose a higher subscription.

If calculated on a two-year lease term, regardless of the second-hand depreciation price of the device, then users who purchase pixel and corresponding services in the form of Pixel Pass can save at least $294, and if you add Google's carrier package Google Fi, you can get more benefits, saving more than $400 in two years.

If Apple wants to launch a similar hardware subscription service, then it is likely to refer to Google's plan to bundle some member services in the Apple ecosystem while subscribing to hardware, such as Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, etc. Of course, in Apple's consistent approach, it should also provide a separate hardware subscription service that does not bundle services, but the overall discount should not be as good as the bundled service solution.

Xiao Lei believes that if Apple really launches a hardware subscription service, it should be limited to the United States in the early stage, and the follow-up will expand the scope of services according to market feedback, etc., and considering that the unit price of the iPhone is much higher than that of the Pixel 6, the monthly subscription fee should also be much higher.

In any case, Apple's hardware subscription system will be a good start, on the one hand, it can reduce the cost of starting a new device, on the other hand, it can also replace the new device at any time, without considering the handling and sale of the old device.

From Apple's point of view, the implementation of the hardware subscription system will effectively boost device sales, may be able to make Apple's market share usher in a long-lost explosive growth, and may lead other mobile phone manufacturers to follow, in the future we buy mobile phones may no longer be a hammer deal.