According to Bloomberg, Apple is planning to launch a hardware subscription service that, unlike the "installment" form, is paid a monthly usage fee similar to the way of leasing. Some American experts pointed out that Apple's move is only to "squeeze out the user value", can make more money, but also in response to the problem of slower frequency of replacement.
At present, the "hardware subscription" service is still in the making, and may be bound to Apple One and Apple Care to a certain extent, requiring users to pay a fixed monthly fee under the premise of ability. Once successfully applied for the service, users can take iPhone, iPad and other Apple hardware products, and ordinary installment payments are fundamentally different, which is more like a rental service.
Simply put, users who choose "hardware subscription" only have the right to use the iPhone, and the ownership of the phone still belongs to Apple, and the product is returned to Apple when the lease period ends. Assuming that the hardware damage to the product is caused during the "lease period", compensation must be made at pre-agreed prices, which may be more expensive than normal repairs, and the user must fully consider before selecting the "hardware subscription" service.
Mark Gurman, a well-known American journalist and Apple expert, said in the latest "Power On" that he has received enough news to prove that Apple is developing an iPhone hardware subscription service, and at the same time made an in-depth interpretation of the move. Gurman believes that Apple wants to squeeze out the full value of users, while also squeezing out the ultimate benefits of hardware products, bringing sustainable revenue to the company.
Gurman said that the replacement cycle of the vast majority of people today is getting longer and longer, almost only a very small number of hardcore fruit fans will replace mobile phones every year, and the replacement cycle of normal people is about three years. The average price of an iPhone is about $825 (about 5,250 yuan), which means that Apple can only get $825 from a person every three years, and it is clear that Apple is not satisfied with this phenomenon and must do something to change the status quo of the market.
Hardware subscription services are Apple's new attempt, originally only more than $800 mobile phone, three years of rental price will come to more than $1,000, Apple can get an additional $200 more in revenue. More importantly, these benefits are pure profits, after the end of the lease period, the mobile phone returns to Apple again, and then sells again in the form of a second mobile phone, and the final benefit of a mobile phone may be two or three times more expensive than the normal sale, and there is huge room for profit growth.
Gurman takes the iPhone 13 as an example, the normal price of this phone is only $799, assuming that according to Apple's hardware subscription plan service, the revenue will be as high as $1260 after three years. When the phone is recycled three years later, the value of the second phone is at least $300, and Apple's revenue can easily double. While this is only a rough calculation, hardware subscriptions do deliver higher revenue, with similar services expected to be available as soon as this year.
In the face of Gurman's analysis, most of the fruit fans expressed support for Apple's decision, while believing that consumers are actually beneficiaries, because short-term rentals are cheaper than buying a brand new mobile phone. Some fans for example: in September this year, the "hardware subscription" won the iPhone 14, a year later handed over to Apple for recycling, and then "hardware subscription" iPhone 15 mobile phone, almost only spent 2/3 of the original price, with a year of complete experience, is not cheaper than buying a new machine?