Apple’s Siri AI Could Become a Paid Upgrade — CEO John Ternus Reveals Plans to Charge for More Server-Side Apple Intelligence Usage

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) plans to let users buy additional capacity for Siri AI and other Apple Intelligence features that rely on server-side models after usage limits are introduced, CEO John Ternus said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.

Apple Eyes Paid Access For Higher AI Usage

Ternus disclosed the plans after Goldman Sachs analyst Michael Ng asked about iCloud+ and the potential monetization opportunity around Apple Intelligence.

"There’s going to be some usage limits on features that rely on server-side models, which include Siri AI and intelligent photo editing, some other things like that," Ternus said.

"And so anyone who needs greater capacity will be able to purchase expanded access in the future," he added.

Ternus said Apple’s cloud services revenue reached an all-time high during the September quarter. He also said the company has been adding capabilities beyond storage to its iCloud tiers, including plans that bundle Apple TV and Apple Arcade in more than 100 countries and regions.

Apple reported Services revenue of $31.6 billion for the quarter, up 10% year over year, according to Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh. Parekh said Apple had more than 1.5 billion paid subscriptions and more than 2.5 billion active devices.

Siri AI Adds Server Costs, Revenue Opportunities

Parekh said costs associated with expanding Siri AI to more users will be recognized through Services cost of sales.

He said server-side Siri AI queries carry inference costs, while on-device processing has "no real cost associated with that." Parekh said Apple remains in the "very, very early stages" of determining the mix of those costs and any additional compute requirements.

Parekh also said Apple sees "a wide range of ways that AI can contribute to revenue growth over time," including opportunities involving third-party apps, partnerships and first-party offerings.

He specifically pointed to Ternus’ disclosure about expanded access to server-side Siri AI and Apple Intelligence features as one of those first-party opportunities.

Ternus separately said Siri currently receives more than 2.5 billion requests per day and described Siri AI as primarily request-based today, with an architecture designed to expand its capabilities over time.

How Has AAPL Performed in 2026?

The stock was higher by 25.13% over the last year, up 24.45% year-to-date, and higher by 1.39% over the last month. It closed 1.83% lower at $338.32 per share on Monday; the stock was down 4.44% in premarket trading on Tuesday.

Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that AAPL maintains a positive price trend in the long and medium terms but a negative trend in the short term, with a good quality score.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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