Apple Intelligence May Come With A Price Tag - Monthly Fees Up To $20 Expected

Since the impressive debut of Apple's AI system product, Apple Intelligence, in June of this year, this significant product has attracted much attention.

Recently, an Apple analyst from Counterpoint has indicated that Apple may charge up to $20 per month for the advanced AI features of Apple Intelligence.

Apple May Charge for Some Features of Apple Intelligence

In June this year, Apple first unveiled the mysterious veil of the Apple Intelligence system and announced that it plans to launch this product on some of its devices later this year. According to the introduction at that time, this AI system will include an enhanced Siri voice assistant, as well as functions for automatically generating emails and images.

Although this new system has been eagerly anticipated by many people, analysts estimate that the launch of these features will be slow, and they may not be available initially in some regions such as China and Europe.

At present, Apple may already be considering a charging plan for Apple Intelligence.

Neil Shah, a partner at Counterpoint Research, said that the investment in artificial intelligence is expensive, and Apple would want to pass on this cost to users.

Currently, the monthly fee for Apple's Apple One service package (including Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, Apple News Plus, and iCloud, etc.) is $19.95. Shah said that Apple may charge between $10 and $20 for the more advanced features of Apple Intelligence and integrate them into the Apple One service package.

Apple's Advantage: Users' Willingness to Pay

Compared to other hardware companies, Apple has a unique advantage: its users are more willing to pay for its software services.

In the second quarter of this year, Apple's services department revenue was $24.2 billion, compared to many other hardware companies that find it difficult to profit from software services.

Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight, said: Apple is one of the few connected devices companies that has successfully monetized the value-added services it offers. As a result, it has set a precedent with its users that they have to pay for more premium services. On this basis, it can't be ruled out that Apple may choose to charge for more advanced features within its Apple Intelligence offering.

In fact, it is not uncommon for technology companies to charge for their AI products. For example, OpenAI charges a subscription fee for more advanced ChatGPT features and Microsoft charges for its AI Copilot tool.

Apple's biggest competitor, Samsung, has already started to launch an artificial intelligence service called Galaxy AI. The head of the company's mobile business revealed last month that Samsung is still considering its software revenue model.

AI Will Strengthen User Loyalty

Shah also mentioned that the AI system will allow Apple to further lock in its already loyal customer base, because Apple Intelligence can learn from the user's behavior and become more personalized, making Apple users more inseparable from it.