Apple is working on a hardware subscription service for iPhones

Apple iPhone SE 3 smartphones at the company’s flagship store in New York, US. Adopting hardware subscriptions, akin to an auto-leasing programme, would be a major strategy shift for a company that has generally sold devices at full cost outright, sometimes through installments or with carrier subsidies. — Bloomberg

Apple Inc is working on a subscription service for the iPhone and other hardware products, a move that could make device ownership similar to paying a monthly app fee, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The service would be Apple’s biggest push yet into automatically recurring sales, allowing users to subscribe to hardware for the first time – rather than just digital services. But the project is still in development, said the people, who asked not to identified because the initiative hasn’t been announced.