Here’s when Apple may start charging you for its AI features

3 months ago 73

Apple Intelligence banner on MacBook Air M2

Mahmoud Itani / Android Authority

TL;DR

All of the Apple Intelligence features previewed at WWDC24 will be available for free on compatible devices.
Apple may eventually start charging for a Plus tier of its AI service, but that likely won’t occur before 2027.
If a paid Apple Intelligence Plus service ever launches, it almost surely won’t paywall any of the existing, free AI features.

Recently, some reports stated that a premium tier of Apple Intelligence could cost up to $20 per month. While that’s certainly a possibility, no credible leaks currently indicate how much Apple will charge for its paid AI features — assuming they ever launch. The company is still in the early testing stages of the free Apple Intelligence service, and coming up with a Plus tier likely won’t occur before 2027.

According to the subscriber edition of Bloomberg’s Power On newsletter, the iPhone maker may need at least three years to develop AI features worth paywalling. The newsletter reads:

I expect the company to release more advanced AI features on top of the existing Apple Intelligence software and ultimately charge for it… but it may take time for Apple to actually execute on it. Apple Intelligence’s existing features are still so nascent that I’d bet it will take three years for Apple to develop something worth charging for. And that may be the best-case scenario.

Apple Intelligence will launch to all eligible users as a beta this fall, suggesting that the company doesn’t feel very confident about its output. Ultimately, AI can be unpredictable, and it may take Apple some time to further enhance the results’ quality and accuracy. While Writing Tools and AI summaries in Mail generally work well, more complex features, such as the upcoming image and emoji generators, may be harder to calibrate.

Rest assured that even if a paid Apple Intelligence Plus subscription service launches down the road, the existing features previewed at WWDC24 will almost certainly remain available for free. The theoretical premium tier would optionally add new features on top of the free ones for an undetermined monthly fee — instead of charging users for what they already use.