Apple has apparently backed away from a plan to launch a hardware subscription service that would allow customers to "subscribe" to receive a new iPhone handset every year.

Per Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, rumors as to a hardware subscription service began back in 2022. Gurman stated that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain access to a device for the subscription period.

Such a service would make it easier for customers to purchase a new iPhone via monthly payments as opposed to buying the handset upfront. Apple already has the iPhone Upgrade Program that splits the cost of a device across a 12 or 24-month period, but the planned subscription service would have been an ongoing monthly fee rather than payments over a set number of months.

Apple has apparently ceased development of the project given regulatory concerns, software bugs, and other issues. It seems that the team developing the subscription service effort was disbanded and reassigned to other projects. Apple has also streamlined some of its payment offerings this year, shutting down the Apple Pay Later pay-in-installments option that was available for less than a year.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.