Apple Could Reportedly Introduce a Paid Apple Intelligence Subscription to Drive Revenue

Apple Intelligence might become a new revenue channel for the company in the future, as per a report. The Cupertino-based tech giant announced its suite of artificial intelligence (AI) features dubbed Apple Intelligence at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024. Once it rolls out, users will get features like the AI-powered Siri, Writing Tools across apps, and image generation features via the Image Playground. ChatGPT is also being integrated into the tech giant's operating systems. For now, these features are going to be available free of cost but this could change in the future.

Apple Intelligence could reportedly get a paid tier

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman stated in the Power On newsletter that the tech giant's long-term plan with Apple Intelligence might be to generate revenue through it. The report further added that the company could launch a service dubbed “Apple Intelligence+” in the future with some premium AI features that require a monthly fee to access, similar to its existing iCloud or Apple Music subscription.

The reasoning given by Gurman behind creating more revenue channels via the software and services route is that the company has witnessed a decline in sales of its devices in recent years. The decline is reportedly due to the slowing pace of hardware innovation, the lack of major design changes, and the improved longevity of devices due to the usage of more durable material.

As per the report, one way Apple might consider ensuring revenue growth despite consumers' slower device upgrade cycles is to focus on its software-based AI services. The tech giant's deal with OpenAI is also said to give it a cut of the subscription revenue the AI firm generates from Apple users. Similar clauses might be placed in deals with other speculated AI partners such as Google and Anthropic.

Despite these speculations, Apple has said that the AI features will be available free of cost to those using a compatible device. Notably, only the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max will support Apple Intelligence at launch. The AI features might be extended to older devices using Private Cloud Compute, the company's cloud servers to run AI computing, which was also announced at the WWDC this year.