Apple's Siri AI upgrade may hide behind iCloud+ paywall

In his final earnings call as Apple CEO, Tim Cook confirmed the company is exploring paid tiers for its upcoming Siri AI overhaul. He said power users could purchase additional compute through upgraded iCloud+ subscriptions, mirroring the freemium models used by OpenAI and Anthropic. The AI-enhanced Siri is already in the iOS 27 beta and is slated for a broad release this fall, but Cook stressed that monetization plans are not finalized. The announcement comes as Apple faces mounting pressure to catch up in the AI assistant race, having licensed a custom Google Gemini model to augment Siri's capabilities.

The delayed rollout has already cost Apple dearly: the company paid $250 million to settle a class action lawsuit over how it marketed iPhone 16's AI features. Meanwhile, outgoing CEO Cook will hand the reins to hardware engineering chief John Ternus, who must navigate both the AI catch-up and rising component costs. An AI-driven RAM shortage has pushed Apple to raise Mac and iPad prices, with iPhone price adjustments still on the table. With competitors like Meta, Samsung, and Microsoft also hiking device prices, Apple's challenge is to monetize Siri AI without alienating its base—and without another expensive misstep.