Surprising for a company that rarely lowers prices, Apple plans to launch a series of cheaper subscription packs that lets customers sign up for several of the iPhone maker’s digital services including Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple News+ at a discounted monthly price, Bloomberg reported on Thursday citing anonymous sources.
Key facts about Apple’s subscription packages
- The bundled subscriptions, likely to be called “Apple One,” are expected to launch in October with the new iPhone models, according to Bloomberg.
- The subscription options would combine Apple Music and Apple TV+ and discount the total price $2 to $5 a month, according to Bloomberg.
- Apple’s services business delivered a record $13.16 billion in revenue in the third quarter amid global lockdowns as the company doubled its services revenue from 2016 six months ahead of schedule.
- Apple may need to make up for hardware revenue shortfall with revenue from services and is toying with new hardware and software combinations including a free subscription of their gaming service Apple Arcade for customers who purchase the Apple TV+ set top box.
Apple’s price drop in recent years
In September 2019 Apple priced its video streaming service Apple TV+ at $4.99 lower than all its competitors. At the same time it maintained or lowered price points when it launched iPhone 11 at a starting price of $699, $50 below the iPhone XR which was priced at $749. The price drop extended to its older devices including iPhone X and iPhone 8. The decision to revisit the lower cost model comes amid a difficult period for the iPhone. Apple reported its first-ever decline in iPhone shipments in 2018. Last month Apple said its latest iPhones will be shipped slightly later than usual as the coronavirus disrupted global supply chains. Apple also did not release revenue forecasts for the next quarter, “given the uncertainty around the world in the near term.”