If you think that the iPhone is considered an expensive smartphone only in Russia, you are wrong. Even in the US and wealthy European countries, 1,000 dollars or euros is good money. Therefore, Apple cannot afford to increase new iPhone pricesbecause many will simply refuse to buy them. But it is impossible to develop devices further, selling them for the same money as, say, 5 years ago. So the company is now faced with a difficult choice and decides how to make it so that they spend less on iPhones and earn more on them.
It turns out that keeping last year’s processor in the iPhone 14 and 14 Max and possibly eliminating the periscope cameras in the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max are not the only ways to save on their cost. Cupertino has planned a whole range of measures to increase marginality. One of them is the distribution of iPhones according to the subscription model.
iPhone subscription – is it profitable?
According to Bloomberg, Apple intends to start selling iPhone by subscription. Consumers will be able to borrow devices without paying the full amount for it immediately, but paying in the process of using it like for Apple Music or Apple TV +. The company has long been called for such a step, but for some reason it ignored these calls for many years. But now, apparently, the situation simply did not leave her any other choice.
By and large iPhone subscription very similar to the installment plan, albeit with a number of differences that make it more profitable for the consumer.
- Firstly, the subscription does not need to be approved by the bank, which means that there will be fewer refusals due to bad credit history;
- Second, Apple’s direct subscription will be less repulsive to people who were wary of dealing with banks;
- Thirdly, in the case of a subscription, there may not even be a first payment, which means that the share of spontaneous purchases will increase significantly, when the consumer can, even without money, take the iPhone here and now.
Yes, Apple will clearly need to protect itself somehow. From at least iPhone damageon hand. Cupertino is obviously not worried about non-payments, because such smartphones can simply be turned off remotely, as happens, for example, with Yandex.Stations taken by subscription. But from the possible failure of the devices during operation, insurance will obviously be needed, which will be shifted to the consumer, including in the total cost.
Is it profitable to buy an iPhone – is it possible
Basically, iphone insurance is standard practice. This is how the lessor – and a subscription to a smartphone, in fact, leasing – protects its property. After all, the device that is transferred to you for temporary use does not belong to you. Under the terms of the contract, you undertake to return it after a certain time. In Russia, this is usually either 6 months or 12. Apple is likely to set wider limits, giving users more freedom to maneuver, but this will not fundamentally change anything. The smartphone does not belong to you, and will not.
In this regard, the question becomes relevant, but how much this pleasure will cost. Because today get an iPhone by subscription profitable is almost impossible. Leaseholders are skinning users three times by calculating the cost of a monthly payment based on some completely non-market rates. As a result, you have to pay about the same every month as for a loan, but in the end, your smartphone is still taken away from you. The benefits are, frankly, questionable.
How Apple will solve this problem, in principle, is clear. Since it makes its own smartphones, it will have more opportunities to cut the price.
- Firstly, Apple does not buy smartphones from distributors and does not pay extra money, which then usually forms the retail price, which in turn is repelled by lessors;
- Secondly, Apple will then pick up the smartphones that have been in its hands and send them for recycling, and the resulting components can be reused;
- Thirdly, refurbished iPhonecollected from smartphones that have been in use, can be sold again, receiving a double benefit.
It’s obvious that iPhone sale by subscription would be beneficial for both parties. Apple will be able to sell more smartphones because the consumer will not pay attention to the price. After all, what difference does it make how much an iPhone retails if you pay half as much for it? And the consumer, in turn, receives a more profitable and convenient form of payment for himself, in which the entire amount does not need to be dumped immediately, as well as the opportunity to annually upgrade the device to a new one, in fact, receiving Two iPhones for the price of one.
