Leasing [url=/tech/mobile/best-iphone/]iPhones instead of selling them traditionally -- if the idea catches on -- could put a serious dent in the tech industry's growing mountain of e-waste.
Since launching the iPhone in 2007, Apple has shipped enough smartphones to circle the Earth more than a dozen times. And Apple's mammoth success, alongside countless other computer and gadget makers, has come at a high cost, counted in tons of aluminum, cobalt, copper, glass, gold, lithium and many other raw materials that go into making the device you're reading on right now.
Plus, customers are already burned out by the growing number of monthly subscriptions, from streaming services to cell carrier plans to cloud storage. I can think of 10 different digital services I'm currently subscribed to right off the bat, without going through my credit card statements. Are we all willing to add yet another one?
An iPhone subscription could help make recycling your iPhone the norm
Apple's Daisy robot is designed to extract parts from recycled iPhones.
James Martin/CNET
Over the past several years, Apple has been very vocal about its plans to reduce its carbon footprint. In some ways, an iPhone subscription plan looks like the logical next step. The offering could include the option to swap out older devices for newer models, according to the report, possibly giving iPhone shoppers another incentive to recycle their old iPhones through Apple.
Apple has made steady progress in its eco-friendly ambitions in the last several years. In 2016, the company introduced Liam, its first robot designed to disassemble iPhones and reuse their parts, before announcing a new robot, called Daisy, in 2018. With the iPhone 12, Apple also stopped including chargers and wired headphones in its iPhone packaging, to reduce waste, a move Samsung mimicked. Among Apple's most ambitious efforts is its .
Aside from potentially helping Apple reduce waste, an iPhone subscription plan could be better for your wallet. Apple, wireless carriers and retailers already offer major trade-in discounts and monthly installment plans. But unlike those existing payment options, this new offering wouldn't split the cost of the device over 12 or 24 months, reports Bloomberg.
Instead, customers would reportedly pay a set amount that would vary depending on the device. That means a subscription service might end up being cheaper than current plans if shoppers don't have to cover the entire cost of the device. But again, we don't know for sure, since this is based on Bloomberg's report rather than official word from Apple.
Apple also offers an [url=]iPhone upgrade plan, which lets users get a new iPhone every year after covering the device's cost in 12 monthly payments. It starts at $35.33 per month and includes AppleCare Plus coverage.
There are obviously other benefits for Apple, too. The iPhone is Apple's biggest moneymaker, so any new offerings that have the potential to drive iPhone growth will be looked on favorably by Wall Street. Finding new ways to encourage iPhone upgrades is also especially important now that people have been .
If Apple does introduce a compelling iPhone subscription deal, it wouldn't be surprising to see carriers either work with Apple or launch new ways to compete. As a customer, that might mean more research and fine print to sift through to find the most affordable option. (But don't worry, if Apple does launch an iPhone subscription, CNET will do that research for you.)
There are plenty of questions that need to be answered. We have no idea how much a service like this could cost, or whether it'll even launch at all. But it would give Apple an opportunity to prove just how important repurposing iPhones has become -- not just the process of building iPhones, but of selling them too.
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