In his final earnings call as CEO, Tim Cook said Apple is considering placing certain limits on the upcoming Siri AI behind paywalled upgrades. Cook emphasized the plans are not finalized but said he expects users to be able to purchase additional compute for Siri AI through iCloud+ subscriptions, which already provide expanded cloud storage.
"We do believe there will be people that want to use [Siri AI] a lot, and so we will have some kind of upgrade possibilities on iCloud+, where people can buy up the stack on iCloud+, and we’ll see how the pickup for that is," Cook said on Thursday. He added, "But we could not be more excited about where [Siri AI] is."
Many AI providers, including Anthropic and OpenAI, follow a similar approach: they offer a limited free tier and provide paid upgrades for heavier usage.
Availability and development delays
The revamped Siri AI is already present in the iOS 27 beta and is planned for broader rollout this fall. Apple’s overhaul of Siri was delayed significantly, and the company settled a class-action lawsuit for $250 million related to how it marketed the iPhone 16’s AI features.
To augment Siri, Apple licensed a custom Gemini model from Google, reflecting the company’s need to rely on external technology to accelerate its assistant’s capabilities.
Supply challenges and pricing pressure
John Ternus, long-serving Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, is stepping into Tim Cook’s role at a crucial moment. Apple, like other hardware makers, faces supply constraints that complicate meeting customer demand. An industry-wide RAM shortage has pushed up hardware production costs, prompting companies such as Meta, Samsung, Microsoft, and Sony to raise prices on some devices.
Apple increased prices for certain Macs and iPads last month but has not changed prices on its existing iPhone models yet.
Why this matters
If Apple implements iCloud+-based paid upgrades for Siri AI, it would create a new revenue stream for AI services while offering users a way to scale access to compute-intensive features. However, development delays, legal settlements, and component shortages pose risks to the rollout and to hardware cost structures. The reception of Siri AI’s public debut and any iCloud+ upgrade tiers this fall will be important indicators of how quickly Apple can close the gap with other AI assistants.
