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| (Image credit: Future) |
Our best guess yet for Apple Intelligence's potential price, should Apple choose to make some functions subscription-only, comes from recent rumors.
While Apple Intelligence may initially be free, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last month, there are long-term plans to introduce a version of "Apple Intelligence+" that will have additional functions and require monthly payments from customers. Neil Shah, a partner at Counterpoint Research, stated in a recent interview with CNBC that Apple intends to charge the user for AI development.
Shah stated to CNBC, "Software and services makes it more lucrative for Apple to pass it on with the Apple One subscription model." As a point of comparison, Apple One presently costs $19.95 and includes access to Apple TV and Arcade in addition to other features.
According to Shah, Apple may increase Apple Intelligence by $10 to $20. That pricing point, meanwhile, is now only conjecture.
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| (Image credit: Future) |
The majority of iPhones won't support Apple Intelligence, which is one problem Apple will have when it introduces a subscription service. Accordingly, the only people who will genuinely be required to pay are those who own an iPhone 15 pro series device or, in the future, an iPhone 16 series device. It seems possible that Apple is aiming to persuade enough consumers to update in order to somewhat offset the expense in the end. It is not, however, the only business with ambitions to encrypt some services behind a subscription model; Samsung is currently exploring other ways to monetize Galaxy AI.
Additionally, Google hides some Gemini capabilities behind its Google One membership plan, which may serve as a template for Apple's strategy for its premium Apple Intelligence service.
Apple Intelligence offers a lot, even though we are unsure of the capabilities that will be included in the membership. The most significant updates that have been revealed center around Siri. According to Apple, when the new app is complete, Siri will be able to keep track of the context of the discussion and the screen's activity. Still, there are a few aspects about Siri's current beta experience that we would have liked to see improved.
As mentioned, Apple is renowned for charging its subscription services fairly, so it won't be the first to put some AI functions behind a paywall. To utilize the features in the first place, though, someone who has already paid a lot of money for a new phone may find it off-putting.
Please see our analysis of Apple's 2024 WWDC presentation as well as our hubs for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro for up-to-date news and rumors on all the new AI capabilities and more.