According to Bloomberg"s Mark Gurman, although paid Apple Intelligence features may be in the pipeline, Apple is highly unlikely to debut them soon. Recently, reports surfaced suggesting Apple may introduce a premium tier of Apple Intelligence with a subscription cost of $20/month.
While that may be a possibility, Gurman suggests that since the company is still in the early stages of testing free Apple Intelligence features, paid AI features may take at least three years more to develop. This could mean that a plus or premium tier won"t be introduced until at least 2027.
The subscriber edition of the Power-On newsletter (via Android Authority), reads:
I expect the company to release more advanced AI features on top of the existing Apple Intelligence software and ultimately charge for it… but it may take time for Apple to actually execute on it. Apple Intelligence’s existing features are still so nascent that I’d bet it will take three years for Apple to develop something worth charging for. And that may be the best-case scenario.
Existing Apple Intelligence features are expected to remain free. However, the company may introduce advanced AI features that will be added on top of the already available ones. The report, unfortunately, does not specify any paid Apple Intelligence features.
The first set of Apple Intelligence features is rumored to launch in October. This suggests that the upcoming iPhone 16 series, set to debut in September, may not get Apple Intelligence features out of the box. Apple is also rumored to launch a big Siri update powered by Apple Intelligence, enabling users to use the assistant for things like image generation, editing, writing, etc.
Gurman has also hinted that the Apple iPhone SE 4, purported to be released in early 2025, could support Apple Intelligence. If that turns out to be true, it would make the iPhone SE 4 more powerful than the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, which lack the necessary power to support Apple Intelligence.