Apple Intelligence may not be free forever, paid version to have more capable AI features: Report

Apple Intelligence

Apple announced its much-awaited artificial intelligence features, which the company renamed as Apple Intelligence, at last month’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event. It is currently available for free across eligible devices running the latest versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

However, according to a new report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple Intelligence may not stay free forever and could also have a premium paid subscription plan, which could be dubbed Apple Intelligence+. Additionally, he also stated that Apple is likely to make more money from these paid services as compared to selling devices.

Therefore, we can expect Apple Intelligence to be the key focus area for Apple in the coming years. The slowdown in hardware upgrades in Apple’s recent devices has led the Cupertino-based technology giant to consider relying more on service fees and subscriptions for its exclusive services.

Gurman also added that the Apple Intelligence+ features could have a monthly payment plan, similar to Apple’s other bundled services such as iCloud, Apple TV+, Apple Music, and Apple Arcade. The potential launch of Apple Intelligence+ could provide its subscribers with more advanced AI models and new features, compared to the standard users.

Apple Intelligence is currently available on the Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max and older MacBooks and iPads with at least the M1 chipset.  The upcoming iPhone 16 series and MacBooks are expected to be running the Apple Intelligence features out of the box.

In another report by Gurman, he also revealed that Apple is planning to bring Artificial Intelligence to its Vision Pro mixed reality headset as well. However, it won’t be coming anytime soon.