Rumours of Apple intending to launch some sort of iPhone hardware subscription program have been buzzing around for a long time now, but it sounds like a launch could still be a way off.

It was reported in September 2022 that Apple intended to get its subscription offering off the ground before the end of the year. That ultimately didn't happen and now it's been suggested that Apple is struggling with various issues related to the project.

Writing for the weekly Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple's various financial programs "have suffered engineering and technical setbacks that have led to slow progress and missed deadlines."

Gurman says that development of the iPhone hardware subscription service was underway at the same time as that of the iPhone 14 series and that a launch alongside it "would have been ideal." That didn't happen, leaving question marks over the entire project. However, it's said that a 2023 launch was always a possibility, suggesting we might see the subscription program arrive in time for the iPhone 15 launch in September.

Apple's iPhone subscription program isn't the only financial offering the company has struggled with, however. Gurman notes that the Apple Card's international rollout simply hasn't happened - it's only available in the United States - and that Apple Pay Later is months behind schedule. That's now expected to ship as soon as March or April 2022, with Apple retail employees now testing the feature.

Apple Pay Later will allow people to buy items with a value of up to $1,000 and spread the cost over multiple payments with zero interest. An expanded version for higher-value items is also being worked on, but that project too is said to be struggling.

"Creating this underlying platform is one of the most ambitious parts of Apple’s finance efforts," Gurman writes. "Under an initiative called Project Breakout, which I first described last March, the company is developing its own technology for handling interest calculations, rewards, credit checks, approvals and transaction histories — all things that are currently overseen by partners."