Amid the excitement and buzz around Apple’s upcoming AI system, analysts have predicted that the tech giant could charge users a subscription fee for its more advanced AI features. The iPhone maker could ask users to pay between $10-$20 in order to access its premium AI services, as per a report from CNBC based on analysts’ inputs.
They said the company could potentially bundle its Apple Intelligence features with Apple One, which enables users to subscribe to multiple services like Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple News, etc. with singular payments. Apple One monthly plans start from $19.95, with Family and premier subscriptions also available.
The company announced its AI features at its WWDC in June 2024. Some of the AI features that will be fused into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia are an AI-boosted Siri, gen AI writing tools, an image generator, and ‘Genmoji’ along with a ChatGPT integration.
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Why Would Apple Charge Users Extra For AI Features?
As per a report, the add-on subscription fee could give Apple’s lucrative services business a boost. In the June quarter, the company reported that its services division generated $24.2 billion in revenue. “Apple is one of the few connected devices companies that has successfully monetized the value-added services it offers,” said Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight.
The cost could also be passed onto Apple customers because investment in AI is costly, Neil Shah, partner at Counterpoint Research, said. In return, the company users would get access to an AI system that learns from their behavior and offers a personalized experience on their devices.
“The beauty of AI is as you use [it] more and more, it learns about you, and you get locked into the model itself because you can’t bring your own model from Apple to Android,” Shah said. While it is said to be rolled out to all devices later this year, Apple Intelligence won’t be available for customers in Europe and China because of regulatory concerns.
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Apple Could Launch Its Smallest Mac Mini With M4 Chips
Apple seems to be gearing up to give its biggest overhaul to the Mac mini lineup. The tech giant is said to prepping a new version of the Mac mini, which will be its smallest desktop computer ever.
As per a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, this update will mark the first significant design change since Steve Jobs’ era in 2010 and will see the Mac mini shrink to a size comparable to an Apple TV set-top box.
The new Mac mini will be a part of a broader refresh of the company’s Mac lineup, all integrating the Ai-focused M4 processors. These chips, also set to back the upcoming iMac desktops, MacBook Pros, and potentially MacBook Airs, and Mac Pro models, showcase a major shift as the company standardizes its chip generation across all its Mac products for the first time.