Apple may try to monetize its Apple Intelligence (A.I.) at some point in the future as the company looks for new revenue streams.
According to a report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple may be planning to charge for top-tier A.I. features, much like it does for some iCloud features.
There’s an opportunity to turn AI features and other software into paid services, but it will take time. Though Apple Intelligence will be free to start, the long-term plan is to make money off the capabilities. The company could eventually launch something like “Apple Intelligence+” — with extra features that users pay monthly fees for, just like iCloud. On top of that, Apple will get a cut of the subscription revenue from every AI partner that it brings onboard.
If it all comes together, Apple could find itself in a strong position in a few years. The company will be less reliant on hardware tweaks to drive its business and will actually be making money from AI — something everyone in Silicon Valley is hoping to pull off.
Apple has increasingly been ramping up its services in an effort to be less reliant on constant hardware upgrade cycles for its revenue. The effort has been largely successful, with services comprising an ever-larger share of Apple’s income year-to-year.
Unlike many companies rolling out AI-based features—where such feature seem like a solution in search of a problem—Apple demonstrated the real-world benefits that can be had from integrating AI. As a result, the company could easily open up an entirely new revenue stream as its A.I. features continue to evolve and offer consumers an improved experience.