Apple is hiking the prices of services like TV+ and Music. The Apple One bundle is going up, too, but iCloud storage pricing hasn’t changed.
- What’s happening? Apple has jacked up subscription prices of its music and video streaming services and the Apple One bundle.
- Why care? Because this is the very first price increase for Apple TV+ and Music.
- What to do? Nothing. The new cost structure is effective immediately. Apple’s customers will see the higher prices reflected in their next billing cycle.
Apple TV+ and Apple Music boost subscription prices
The monthly price for the individual Apple Music subscription went from $10 to $11. The yearly plan was boosted by $10, from $99 to $109. The monthly TV+ subscription climbed to $7 from $5 before, with the annual option now priced at $69 instead of $49. Read: How to get Apple One and save money on individual services
The pricing structure for iCloud storage upgrades and other Apple services like News+ and Fitness+ hasn’t changed as of yet.
Price comparison: Apple TV+ and Apple Music vs. rivals
At $7 monthly, Apple TV+ is still more affordable than Netflix ($10), HBO Max ($15) and Amazon Prime Video ($9). However, Netflix will soon launch its ad-supported plan that will limit video resolution to 1080p and watching to one device at a time in exchange for a lower monthly fee of $7.
Apple TV+ has been building out its library so the service currently offers fewer movies and TV shows than its rivals. Boosting the monthly subscription will make the content gap between TV+ and Netflix more obvious. On the other hand, Apple TV+ has one thing going for it—everything hosted on the platform is original content.
Interestingly, monthly ($7) and yearly ($69) Apple Music subscriptions are now more expensive than rival offerings from Spotify ($10) and Amazon ($9). Spotify shares went up fifteen percent as a result of this news.
The Apple One bundle gets more expensive, too
That can’t be said for the Apple One bundle, offered in three tiers.
The Apple One Family bundle—which includes Music, TV+, Arcade and iCloud+ with 200 gigabytes—is now $22.95 every month, a $3/month increase from $19.95. You can share this bundle with up to five other people in your Family Sharing circle. Read: How to share subscriptions with family members on your iPhone
The flagship Apple One Premier bundle, which includes everything found in the Family bundle along with News+, Fitness+ and iCloud+ with two terabytes of storage, has also climbed $3 and is now priced at $32.95 monthly.
According to Apple, the Family tier saves you $9/month versus paying for each component service contained in the bundle. Before the price change, Apple One Family saved $8/month, The Premier tier now saves you $26/ month, $1 more than the savings of $25/month before the price hike.
Apple One Individual is now two bucks pricier than before at $16.95/month. Effective immediately, these prices will be reflected in the next billing cycle.
For further information, visit apple.com/apple-one.
Why have Apple services gone up in price?
In short, Apple attributed the higher price of its music-streaming service to an increase in licensing costs. The company adds that the Apple Music price increase will result in more money for artists and songwriters.
As for TV+, the Cupertino giants argues that it originally debuted the service “at a very low price” because it only had a few shows and movies.
Streaming subscriptions are on the rise
Prices of streaming services have been rising for some time. Part of the reason is streaming fatigue. With so many options available across different services, streaming everything that interests you now actually costs more than a cable bundle.
When Netflix was starting in streaming, it attracted subscribers with an $8/month service. The company had to price the service attractively to lure would-be subscribers. But as Netflix grew and gained a foothold in the entertainment industry, slowly but surely it’s been raising prices.
Truth be told, Netflix isn’t alone in this—other streamers have, are or will boost prices in the near future. As an example, the monthly Disney+ subscription will rise by as much as 38 percent, from $8 to $11 on December 8, 2022, in the United States.
The monthly price for Hulu is also going up, with the ad-free service jumping from $13 to $15 and the ad-supported tier from $7 to $8.
Hulu’s price changes go into effect on October 10, 2022.