A new report from Bloomberg News claims that Apple still intends to launch a new subscription plan in which it will offer iPhones and other devices to consumers for a monthly fee.
The report, released on Sunday, said technical problems prevented the project from starting, but it is expected to start in March or April next year.
In early 2022, Apple is reported to be working to bring its service model into the hardware space, making iPhone smartphones and other devices available to consumers for a monthly fee.
Bloomberg noted in its report that Apple is currently working on four fintech projects and has announced two of them: Apple Pay Later and Apple Card Savings Account. However, the company is still working on a monthly Apple Pay monthly installment payment plan in addition to its iPhone subscription plan.
The subscription plan was originally set to launch in 2021 alongside the iPhone 13 or iPhone 14 in 2022, but the company still faced "technical and technical setbacks that resulted in slow progress and missed deadlines."
Whether it's an iPhone subscription or a monthly payment plan, Apple is still in the works, and Bloomberg said in the report that it's clear that "financial payment services have proven to be more challenging than expected."
In part, that's because Apple is developing a platform for its financial services called Project Breakout, which will include "verifications, approvals, and transaction histories" that other financial services partners typically handle.
According to Bloomberg, while monthly installment plans and iPhone subscription plans are similar, they differ in that the monthly fee for an iPhone plan does not represent the price of the device divided by 12 or 24 months. Instead, it will be an "unspecified monthly fee dependent on the device the user chooses", rather than a fee that inevitably obliges the user to own the device.