Editorial: How long before we get a $100 'Everything Apple' subscription including an iPho...
Apple's moves this week regarding Apple TV+ and, more quietly, AppleCare+, suddenly make sense if you suspect the company is heading toward offering us a single all-in subscription package.
Expect to see more of this. Not just the subscription fee slide, but Tim Cook loving it.
It's long been said that Apple is becoming a services company instead of a hardware one. That it is moving to earning its money from, say, Apple TV+, rather than just from straight iPhone sales. Separately, it's also been clear that Apple has been pushing app developers away from one-off fees to a subscription model.
Reportedly, Apple has made a good case when presenting subscriptions to developers, but perhaps this is not a case of Apple just advising other firms. Maybe subscription apps and Apple's services are not two separate things.
Perhaps Apple itself is looking to a future where subscriptions are the norm. If Apple has thought of this, then the company's moves this week look very much like it putting some more parts of the jigsaw in place.
And if Apple hasn't thought of it, if Tim Cook is even now reading this in an Apple Park canteen and spluttering over his latte, we're happy to take credit for the idea. And 10% of the profits.
For this now looks both so likely and so good that we're sure Apple is going to do it. Apple, at some point, is going to offer you an all-in-one subscription fee. It will be a single-price, probably family-wide, price that gets you all of Apple's services -- and an iPhone.
If you were definitely going to subscribe anyway, that free offering is essentially a $60 hardware savings, but let's focus on the monthly fee.
Apple does now seem to like its all-in-one offerings.
That $4.99 is the same price Apple is charging for Apple Arcade.
Add in Apple News+ which, where it's available, currently costs $9.99 per month. Then Apple Music which is $9.99 per month, but also has that bargain family tier that costs $14.99.
So far you've just spent $34.96.
But if we're talking about one subscription for a whole family, we should add in the 2TB version of iCloud. Apple calls that "ideal for families to share," and charges $9.99 per month for it.
The most noticeable change is that iPhones now cost even more than they ever did, and they were always expensive. The old idea of buying on contract and paying a monthly fee appears to have vanished. It's not only gone from the iPhone, it's seemingly gone from all smartphones.
Except Apple has brought it back. In a way.
You've long been able to get on the iPhone Upgrade Program where you pay a certain monthly fee to get your iPhone. And you've also long been able to find a financing package when you buy via an Apple Store or online, but it always used to be in the fine print just before checkout.
Now if you go to buy a new iPhone, the very first thing you see is a potential monthly fee.
Apple now emphasises that there's a monthly payment option.
There is then also a trade-in option. Apple is really pushing the fact that if you trade in your old iPhone, they'll give you credit for it. The price you get is nothing like the resale value you could get elsewhere, but Apple is pushing it hard, and then whether you choose it or not, the rest of the pricing has changed too.
Now wherever there is a full purchase price listed, it is preceded by a monthly fee option.
For the iPhone 11 Pro, that's from $41.62 per month, and for the iPhone 11 Pro Max it's from $45.79 per month. The iPhone 11 is from $29.12 per month. All of these prices are lower if you trade in an older device, and all of them are subject to the usual credit checks.
They're also all subject to the 3% cashback you can get if you buy them via Apple Card.
Let's say you don't have an Apple Card, and you don't have an older device to trade in. Then since the 64GB iPhone is a bit of a squeeze on space -- trust us on this one --let's say you pick the 256GB iPhone 11 Pro Max.
That's currently listed as being from $52.04 per month.
Except there is something missing -- and it's something else that Apple did this week, albeit very quietly. Right after the September 10 keynote, Apple introduced a new AppleCare+ which within certain constraints, lets you extend your regular AppleCare insurance.
And, you guessed it, AppleCare+ is a monthly fee.
Apple debuts a new monthly AppleCare+ program
Right now it's not at all clear what that fee will be, and given how quietly Apple has released this service, we're unlikely to know for sure until the iPhone 11 range is actually on sale and we can all work through the options.
However, the regular AppleCare price for the iPhone 11 is $149 for two years, and for the same period with an iPhone 11 Pro Max, it's $199.
That monthly fee is going to cost more. But you can take these fees and divide them by 24 -- because they're two-year plans. In which case, we can be sure that a monthly AppleCare+ fee for the iPhone 11 will be no less than $5.96. And for the iPhone 11 Pro Max, it won't be less than $8.30.
In which case, going top of the range for an iPhone and also for every Apple service would end up costing you no less than $105.29.
We'd be surprised if the top end AppleCare+ monthly fee didn't magically happen to be $9.99, which would make this fantasy all-in subscription add up to $106.98.
Maybe she didn't believe Apple would release Apple TV+ for just $4.99/month either
However, we also wouldn't be in the slightest bit surprised if Apple, at least at first, offered all of this for a straight $100 per month. Given that it was first providing for families and is now targeting them, we'd also not be exactly startled if, say, there were to be a $150 per month package that got your household two iPhones.
It's a funny world where we could say this about what would add up to $1,200 or $1,800 per year, but that $100 or even $150 per month could be irresistible.
We could always be wrong, of course. But if we are, we're going to take our money and spend it on creating the nearest equivalent to an all-in Apple monthly subscription that we can.
Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.
Expect to see more of this. Not just the subscription fee slide, but Tim Cook loving it.
It's long been said that Apple is becoming a services company instead of a hardware one. That it is moving to earning its money from, say, Apple TV+, rather than just from straight iPhone sales. Separately, it's also been clear that Apple has been pushing app developers away from one-off fees to a subscription model.
Reportedly, Apple has made a good case when presenting subscriptions to developers, but perhaps this is not a case of Apple just advising other firms. Maybe subscription apps and Apple's services are not two separate things.
Perhaps Apple itself is looking to a future where subscriptions are the norm. If Apple has thought of this, then the company's moves this week look very much like it putting some more parts of the jigsaw in place.
And if Apple hasn't thought of it, if Tim Cook is even now reading this in an Apple Park canteen and spluttering over his latte, we're happy to take credit for the idea. And 10% of the profits.
For this now looks both so likely and so good that we're sure Apple is going to do it. Apple, at some point, is going to offer you an all-in-one subscription fee. It will be a single-price, probably family-wide, price that gets you all of Apple's services -- and an iPhone.
Follow the math
What we learned this week was that Apple TV+ will cost $4.99 per month. That's lower than expected, and even lower still since this is the fee for the entire family rather than an individual. We also learned that if you buy new Apple hardware, you get Apple TV+ free for a year.If you were definitely going to subscribe anyway, that free offering is essentially a $60 hardware savings, but let's focus on the monthly fee.
Apple does now seem to like its all-in-one offerings.
That $4.99 is the same price Apple is charging for Apple Arcade.
Add in Apple News+ which, where it's available, currently costs $9.99 per month. Then Apple Music which is $9.99 per month, but also has that bargain family tier that costs $14.99.
So far you've just spent $34.96.
But if we're talking about one subscription for a whole family, we should add in the 2TB version of iCloud. Apple calls that "ideal for families to share," and charges $9.99 per month for it.
The cost of that iPhone 11 Pro Max
Apple now makes lots of hardware, but the focus is still of course on the iPhone -- and there has been a significant change in pricing on that.The most noticeable change is that iPhones now cost even more than they ever did, and they were always expensive. The old idea of buying on contract and paying a monthly fee appears to have vanished. It's not only gone from the iPhone, it's seemingly gone from all smartphones.
Except Apple has brought it back. In a way.
You've long been able to get on the iPhone Upgrade Program where you pay a certain monthly fee to get your iPhone. And you've also long been able to find a financing package when you buy via an Apple Store or online, but it always used to be in the fine print just before checkout.
Now if you go to buy a new iPhone, the very first thing you see is a potential monthly fee.
Apple now emphasises that there's a monthly payment option.
There is then also a trade-in option. Apple is really pushing the fact that if you trade in your old iPhone, they'll give you credit for it. The price you get is nothing like the resale value you could get elsewhere, but Apple is pushing it hard, and then whether you choose it or not, the rest of the pricing has changed too.
Now wherever there is a full purchase price listed, it is preceded by a monthly fee option.
For the iPhone 11 Pro, that's from $41.62 per month, and for the iPhone 11 Pro Max it's from $45.79 per month. The iPhone 11 is from $29.12 per month. All of these prices are lower if you trade in an older device, and all of them are subject to the usual credit checks.
They're also all subject to the 3% cashback you can get if you buy them via Apple Card.
Let's say you don't have an Apple Card, and you don't have an older device to trade in. Then since the 64GB iPhone is a bit of a squeeze on space -- trust us on this one --let's say you pick the 256GB iPhone 11 Pro Max.
That's currently listed as being from $52.04 per month.
Getting there
Take that monthly cost for a top of the range iPhone and add in all the Apple services you could subscribe to. It comes to $96.99.Except there is something missing -- and it's something else that Apple did this week, albeit very quietly. Right after the September 10 keynote, Apple introduced a new AppleCare+ which within certain constraints, lets you extend your regular AppleCare insurance.
And, you guessed it, AppleCare+ is a monthly fee.
Apple debuts a new monthly AppleCare+ program
Right now it's not at all clear what that fee will be, and given how quietly Apple has released this service, we're unlikely to know for sure until the iPhone 11 range is actually on sale and we can all work through the options.
However, the regular AppleCare price for the iPhone 11 is $149 for two years, and for the same period with an iPhone 11 Pro Max, it's $199.
That monthly fee is going to cost more. But you can take these fees and divide them by 24 -- because they're two-year plans. In which case, we can be sure that a monthly AppleCare+ fee for the iPhone 11 will be no less than $5.96. And for the iPhone 11 Pro Max, it won't be less than $8.30.
In which case, going top of the range for an iPhone and also for every Apple service would end up costing you no less than $105.29.
We'd be surprised if the top end AppleCare+ monthly fee didn't magically happen to be $9.99, which would make this fantasy all-in subscription add up to $106.98.
Maybe she didn't believe Apple would release Apple TV+ for just $4.99/month either
However, we also wouldn't be in the slightest bit surprised if Apple, at least at first, offered all of this for a straight $100 per month. Given that it was first providing for families and is now targeting them, we'd also not be exactly startled if, say, there were to be a $150 per month package that got your household two iPhones.
It's a funny world where we could say this about what would add up to $1,200 or $1,800 per year, but that $100 or even $150 per month could be irresistible.
Even if we're wrong
It's so irresistible, and the math works out so conveniently handy, that we would bet money that this is what Apple is planning -- and probably has been planning for a very long time.We could always be wrong, of course. But if we are, we're going to take our money and spend it on creating the nearest equivalent to an all-in Apple monthly subscription that we can.
Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.
Comments
As for the subscription model itself many of us pay $150/mo or more for cable TV/Satellite TV service with 250 channels we hardly watch but want to scream about $9.99/mo for Apple Music or iCloud space. Office 365 includes 1TB of OneDrive and 60 minutes/mo of Skype and we scream about that too.
There is no chance I would buy the bundle/subscription you describe here. Ever. My opinion only, YMMV, maybe it makes sense to Tim and Co.
No, I think Apple should stick to what they are doing now and let customers pick and choose what Apple services they sign up for. If you want to sign up for all of Apple’s services, who are we to stop you? And what about Macs and iPads? $200 per month total? $250? Madness.
Keep it simple and just buy what you want when you want. I listen to music on regular old YouTube and in my iTunes library and I save €120 per year. Magazines? What’s this the 80’s? TV at €5? Well, yes, I will be quitting Netflix and switching to this. Netflix’s original content is mostly not great—the artists making the content lack the chops, largely, and stretching every little documentary out into a series is painful and repetitive. Apps? Don’t subscribe to them. Apple will get €1 per month for iCloud and €5 for TV and I will keep the other €94, thank you very much. And Netflix? Goodbye, Netflix.
Gazelle: $246
eBay: $337 avg selling price, minus eBay & PayPal fees
...where are you able to sell it for more? Plus with a trade-in you don't have to worry about cables, box, blemishes, etc. After years of ebaying my old iPhones, I may be done with that.
iCloud 2 TB - $9.99
What is the other $80 for?
iPhone is an installment purchase, it is not a rental. If you continuously and religiously upgrade on an exact schedule every 12 months, it might mirror one, but it is not. It can't be included in any sort of ongoing Apple subscription.
The whole idea of packaging everything into one bundle is to make the bundled price much less than the cost of the collection of services. If it's close, as you've done in your article, people won't get the bundled package simply by dropping Apple Arcade or getting a less expensive iPhone. If Apple really wants to pull everyone into every service they offer and provide more than basic services (5GB for free vs 2TB) then they'd offer the collection of services you've mentioned for somewhere closer to $75 or even a range starting at $50 for the lowest iPhone up to $75 for the highest one (amount of storage could cause some additional variations).
As I am writing this, I see the problems with trying to come up with a one price fits all package but let's take out the iPhone and AppleCare monthly costs and come up with a services package price. I'm not even going to try and calculate that I'm just going to say $25/mo for iCloud storage (2TB family), Apple Music (family), Apple TV+ (family), Apple Arcade (family) and Apple News+ (family). This amount I'd pay to get everything and I could either add this on top of an iPhone purchase paid monthly or just buy the phone and pay the monthly services cost. Am I being cheap? Can Apple afford this with all the licenses they have to pay for? Would people pay this separate amount just for services? I'd say yeas to all three but I don't see myself paying $100/mo for one phone and services.
There might also be a sales tax advantage if you buy out of state, but there is significant risk to this because of not only the nature of a phone being very traceable to an owner, but I very much expect states to start demanding sales records from retailers so as to enforce their sale/use tax rules.
Edit: and oh...double the manufacturers warranty on the credit card too.
It can absolutely be included in an ongoing Apple subscription.