Apple raises the price of Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple One
What this change means for Apple’s services business.
On Monday, Apple raised the prices of two of its services as well as all tiers of its Apple One bundle. Here’s a breakdown of the price changes courtesy of 9to5Mac:
“Apple Music
Individual: $10.99 per month (from $9.99)
Family: $16.99 per month (from $14.99)
Individual Annual: $109 per year (from $99)
Apple TV+
Monthly: $6.99 per month (from $4.99)
Annual: $69 per year (from $49.99)
Apple One
Individual: $16.95 per month (from $14.95)
Family: $22.95 per month (from $19.95)
Premier: $32.95 per month (from $29.95)”
So essentially an additional dollar for Apple Music and two dollars for Apple TV+. 9to5Mac also has a statement from an Apple spokesman. They blamed the cost increase for Apple Music on increased licensing fees incurred by Apple. For Apple TV+ they essentially said, “Look, we offered it at a low price to start with, but now we’ve added so many shows and movies that the value proposition has changed.” I’m not surprised by these pricing changes, particularly for Apple TV+. I always assumed that the $5/month price reflected Apple’s attempt to break into a market it hadn’t previously competed in and that at some point that price would go up.
Obviously no one wants to ever pay higher prices for any good or service, but I think there are two specific things that disappoint me about these price increases. First, these services (and the Apple One bundle) are now less of a bargain. Previously Apple TV+ in particular felt like a great value at $5, particularly when compared with other top tier streaming services. Apple TV+ is still a great deal at this new price when compared with Netflix and HBO Max, but it was truly a great deal at that lower price point. I’m sure Apple is confident in their ability to continue drawing customers at $7/month, but it’s certainly a tougher ask today than it was a week ago. Secondly, these new prices just aren’t as clean when you look at the slate of products. Yeah, I know this probably isn’t a huge deal, but $10.99, $16.95, $22.95, and $32.95 just don’t look as clean and attractive as the previous price points.
Finally, I think this says a lot about the services Apple didn’t increase the prices of. Apple Arcade still feels like a promising service that hasn’t come close to realizing its potential. If it was taking off in popularity, Apple would certainly have increased its price alongside Apple TV+. Apple News+ just almost never gets talked about at all. Apple Fitness+ is one that has really impressed me with how quickly Apple has ramped it up and how much quality they’ve gotten from it. I don’t know how widely it’s used, but I think Apple still sees it as a product that makes sense at its existing price given the competition in that segment of the market. It probably also helps keep costs down that Apple owns and produces all of the content for Fitness+ itself.
While I think Apple Arcade still feels unfocused, I think Apple is doing phenomenal work with Apple Music, Apple Fitness+, and Apple TV+, and I continue to follow the development of Apple’s services business with great interest.