Apple Intelligence AI features for iPhone and Mac to cost up to $20 per month in future, according to analyst
According to data from SellCell, customers now only buy a new smartphone every 3.5 years, meaning that smartphones are used on average over a year longer than in 2014 before being replaced with a new model. Apple recognized this trend some time ago and has been trying to increase revenue generated from services and subscriptions with services such as Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade ever since.
This has been successful, as Apple announced on August 1 that Apple's Services division generated record revenue of $24.2 billion in the quarter from April to June 2024, around three billion more than in the same quarter of the previous year. By comparison, Apple "only" generated a total of $22.2 billion with all iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and AirPods sales, and $39.3 billion with the iPhone. As CNBC reports on the basis of information provided by an analyst, Apple Intelligence could well be an opportunity for the company to expand its services revenue.
In future, Apple will charge users between $10 and $20 per month for AI features of the iPhone, iPad and Mac. This could make Apple Intelligence as expensive as Apple One, the subscription that grants access to Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and iCloud+ with 50 GB of cloud storage. To make the subscription more attractive, Apple Intelligence will potentially be integrated into a more expensive Apple One subscription.
It is not unusual for AI features to be offered for a fee, as buyers of the Google Pixel 9 Pro also have to take out an AI subscription for $240 per year after a free trial period, and Samsung has already hinted that AI functions may be locked behind a payment barrier in the future. Apple Intelligence will not even be available in Europe at the launch in the fall, but can be used free of charge in the USA, at least initially. An overview of Apple's AI features can be found on the official Apple Intelligence website.
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