Apple May Charge up to $20 Monthly for Advanced AI Functions
TapTechNews August 8th news, according to CNBC reports, several analysts predict that Apple may charge up to $20 (TapTechNews note: currently about 143 Chinese yuan) monthly for its upcoming advanced artificial intelligence functions to further drive the growth of its lucrative service business.
Apple plans to launch an artificial intelligence system named AppleIntelligence on some of its devices later this year. When the company announced the system in June, it promised to enhance the Siri voice assistant and introduce a series of functions such as automatically generating emails and images. Although the rollout of these functions will be gradual and initially not available in regions such as China and Europe, analysts say Apple may charge a subscription fee for more advanced applications.
CouterpointResearch partner Neil Shah said that the investment cost in artificial intelligence is high and Apple hopes to pass this part of the cost on to users. Software and services make it easier for Apple to pass on the cost through the AppleOne subscription model, Shah said.
Currently, the monthly fee for AppleOne is $19.95 (currently about 143 Chinese yuan), and users can use various Apple services including AppleMusic. Shah said that Apple may charge a fee of $10 to $20 for more advanced AI functions, which may be part of AppleOne.
In the second quarter, Apple's service department had revenue of $24.2 billion. Apple is one of the few connected device companies that has successfully monetized value-added services, said Ben Wood, chief research officer of CCSInsight.
Therefore, it has already set a precedent for users that they have to pay for more advanced services. Based on this, it cannot be ruled out that Apple may choose to charge for more advanced functions in its AppleIntelligence product. Wood added that AppleIntelligence can provide the option for this US giant to launch a bundled subscription service, integrating various services under one price. But he also said that Apple is also reluctant to dilute the revenue of individual product subscriptions.
It is not uncommon for technology companies to charge for their AI products. For example, OpenAI charges a subscription fee for more advanced ChatGPT functions, and Microsoft also charges for its AICopilot tool.
Apple's biggest competitor, Samsung, has already begun to launch its artificial intelligence service named GalaxyAI, but its mobile business head said last month that the company is still considering various revenue models for its software.
Shah said that for Apple, artificial intelligence has the opportunity to further lock in its already loyal customer base because AppleIntelligence will learn from users' behaviors and become more personalized. The beauty of artificial intelligence is that the more you use it, the more it knows you, and you will be locked into this model because you can't take your own model from Apple to Android. Shah said. This is where you start to use it more and more, you get used to it, and this is the key to Apple's monetization.