12.19 According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter revealed that Apple has suspended the development of iPhone hardware subscription service projects and abandoned attempts to change the way consumers purchase its flagship products. The idea was to make owning an iPhone like subscribing to apps: consumers would pay a monthly fee and upgrade to a new phone every year, but Apple recently stopped that. The team has been disbanded and reassigned to other projects, people familiar with the matter said.
The move is part of a broader shift in how Apple's payments germany phone number list service is delivered. The hardware subscription service is overseen by the company's Apple Pay team, which also shut down its buy now, pay later program earlier this year. The service allowed shoppers to pay for their purchases in installments, but Apple is now steering consumers toward thirdparty programs.
Two years ago, there were reports that Apple was developing a hardware subscription service for the iPhone, which was scheduled to be launched at the end of 2022. After encountering many setbacks such as software bugs and regulatory issues, it was eventually postponed to 2023 or even later. Company executives had relegated the work to the design stage before the project was ultimately canceled.