In his final earnings call as Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook hinted that the company’s much-anticipated Siri AI upgrade might come with some paid features. While Cook acknowledged these plans aren’t finalized, he sees a future where users could purchase extra computing power for Siri AI through the existing 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. “But we could not be more excited about where [Siri AI] is.”

This approach mirrors what many other AI providers, such as Anthropic and OpenAI, already do—offering a limited free tier to consumers while allowing upgrades for heavier usage. The revamped Siri AI is currently available in the iOS 27 beta, with a broader rollout planned for this fall. As longtime Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering John Ternus prepares to step into Cook’s role, he will take charge during a pivotal moment for the company. Apple has lagged in developing a sophisticated AI assistant, even turning to its direct rival Google by licensing a custom Gemini model to bolster Siri. The delay in Siri’s AI overhaul was so significant that Apple had to pay $250 million to settle a class action lawsuit over how it marketed the iPhone 16’s AI features.

Like every other hardware maker, Apple is also facing a challenging landscape when it comes to securing the components needed to meet consumer demand. The industry-wide RAM shortage driven by AI has made hardware production more costly, prompting companies like Meta, Samsung, Microsoft, and Sony to raise prices on certain devices. Apple increased prices on Macs and iPads last month, though it has not yet adjusted the pricing for its existing iPhone lineup.