Apple Intelligence Gains Traction Among iPhone Users, Survey Reveals Surprising Willingness to Pay

Apple Intelligence earns 'stronger-than-expected' marks in consumer survey - 9to5Mac

In a new report published at Seeking Alpha, Morgan Stanley shared the results of its recent survey of 3,300 US iPhone owners. The subject? Apple Intelligence. And in a surprise, consumers are finding the iPhone's AI features more useful than the firm expected. Chris Ciaccia writes at Seeking Alpha: Woodring said nearly 80% of all eligible U.S. iPhone owners have downloaded and engaged with Apple Intelligence over the past six months. Many have described it as easy to use, innovative or something that improves their user experience. As such, nearly 42% of respondents said it's extremely or very important for their next iPhone to have Apple Intelligence; and 54% of respondents who are likely to upgrade in the next 12 months said it's extremely or very important for their next iPhone to have Apple Intelligence. The survey also showed that on average, U.S. consumers would pay up to $9.11 per month for unlimited Apple Intelligence access, up 11% from the September 2024 survey. All of this amounts, per the report, to "stronger-than-expected consumer perception for Apple Intelligence". What's left unsaid is how exactly these survey responses compare to the kind of feedback Morgan Stanley expected. That's an important data point that's missing. However, at a time when Apple Intelligence stories tend to focus on Apple's struggles, such as with delayed Siri upgrades, this survey offers a helpful additional perspective. If you're tuned into the latest tech news, you'll know that Apple is generally seen as 'behind' its AI competition. To the average iPhone user though, using Genmoji, notification summaries, or new Photos features may be their first time ever encountering AI. Those consumers may not have anything to compare Apple Intelligence against. In that context, perhaps Apple's slow AI start isn't as big a problem as some assume. Particularly if iOS 19 is able to bring the delayed Siri features and other new upgrades, Apple could easily start being perceived -- at least by the average user -- as a leader in AI. What are your takeaways from this Apple Intelligence survey? Let us know in the comments.

We will pay for Apple Intelligence, even if the survey saying so is junk

I'm often skeptical about survey results. There are small-scale ones, where the claimed trends are actually within the margin of error for the sample size, and even in larger ones there's still ample scope for the results to be way less meaningful than they might seem. I have to say that Morgan Stanley's survey on consumer attitudes to Apple Intelligence triggered my doubtometer, as the rosy picture it paints doesn't seem a very good match for the current state of play ... The investment firm found that nearly 80% of US consumers with a compatible iPhone have "engaged" with Apple Intelligence over the past six months. That may or may not be true: the average non-techy iPhone user probably doesn't have a good handle on which features are and aren't powered by AI. Then there's the perceived importance of AI features. Per Seeking Alpha's summary: Nearly 42% of respondents said it's extremely or very important for their next iPhone to have Apple Intelligence; and 54% of respondents who are likely to upgrade in the next 12 months said it's extremely or very important for their next iPhone to have Apple Intelligence. What do these numbers mean. Do they mean it's important to have the existing AI features? Or the ones Apple has promised? If the latter, which ones? Or does neither apply, and they simply think that AI is a big thing in general so they ought to have it? Most bemusingly of all, the firm reports that 80% of iPhone users are willing to pay for Apple Intelligence features, and that the average price they would pay is $9.11 per month. Again, the crucial question is: For what? I can't believe anyone would pay nine bucks a month for the existing features, so what would they pay for? We don't know. For all these reasons, I don't think the survey tells us anything useful. But will Apple at some point start charging for Apple Intelligence? Almost certainly, for two reasons. First, generative AI models are expensive to run, and Apple isn't exactly noted for its generosity when it comes to freebies. The free iCloud tier, for example, has remained at 5GB despite the fact that this would now back up 4% of the lowest storage tier iPhone the company sells. (Emergency SOS via Satellite is currently a rare exception, where the company clearly thinks it's more valuable as a source of great PR than it would be as a revenue stream.) Second, service revenue continues to grow ever more important to the company. Last year, for example, Services accounted for almost a quarter of AAPL revenue, with gross profit margins of 73%. Admittedly that has so far included $20B+ of revenue from Google, where the costs are essentially zero, but Apple's other services are still a massive business on their own. For both reasons, it's a near certainty that Apple will end up adopting the same freemium model as other generative AI services: a free tier with limited usage, and one or more paid tiers for more extensive use. Of course, free is an excellent price, and we'd all rather Apple Intelligence remain so. But the company's undoubted plans to make money from it may actually work out in our favor. We've all seen how motivated Apple has been to improve Siri as a free service between 2011 and now, which is to say not at all. If Apple hopes to persuade us to pay for AI, then it will have to make it worthwhile. The company will need to be able to compete with the existing freemium AI services like ChatGPT and Gemini, and it will need to remain competitive as other services continue to develop new capabilities. In short, the only way any of us are ever going to pay for Apple Intelligence is if the company starts delivering on those big promises for an all-new Siri. If it can do so, I'll pay without too much muttering. I currently use several different AI models, paying for them sporadically when I hit the free usage limits. (For the avoidance of doubt, this does not include using AI to do any of my writing.) If an all-new Siri could do everything they do, then the convenience of doing everything through that would be persuasive. The Apple ecosystem for the win again. But only if Apple Intelligence delivers everything currently promised, and only if it continues to keep pace with competing AI systems. That gives Apple the motivation that has been missing for Siri all of these years. What features would persuade you to pay for a Siri Pro service? Let us know in the comments.

A surprising 80% of people would pay for Apple Intelligence, according to a new survey - here's why

The results are surprising given Apple Intelligence's history of struggles Apple Intelligence hasn't exactly received rave reviews since it was announced in summer 2024, with critics pointing to its delayed features and disappointing performance compared to rivals like ChatGPT. Yet that apparently hasn't dissuaded consumers, with a new survey suggesting that huge numbers of people are enticed by Apple's artificial intelligence (AI) platform (via MacRumors). The survey was conducted by investment company Morgan Stanley, and it found that one in two respondents would be willing to pay at least $10 a month (around £7.50 / AU$15 p/month) for unlimited access to Apple Intelligence. Specifically, 30% would accept paying between $10 and $14.99, while a further 22% would be okay with paying $15 or more. Just 14% of respondents were unwilling to pay anything for Apple Intelligence and 6% weren't sure, implying that 80% of people wouldn't mind forking out for the service. According to 9to5Mac, the survey found that 42% of people said it was extremely important or very important that their next iPhone featured Apple Intelligence, while 54% of respondents who planned to upgrade in the next 12 months said the same thing. All in all, the survey claimed that its results showed "stronger-than-expected consumer perception for Apple Intelligence." Morgan Stanley's survey polled approximately 3,300 people, and it says that the sample is representative of the United States' population in terms of age, gender, and religion. If you've been following Apple Intelligence, you'll probably know it's faced a pretty bumpy road in the months since it launched. For one thing, it has received much criticism for its ability to carry out tasks for users, with many people comparing it unfavorably to some of the best AI services like ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot. As well as that, Apple has been forced to delay some of Apple Intelligence's headline features, such as its ability to work within apps and understand what is happening on your device's screen. These were some of Apple Intelligence's most intriguing aspects, yet Apple's heavy promotion of these tools hasn't translated into working features. That all makes these survey results seem rather surprising, but there could be a few reasons behind them. Perhaps consumers are happy to have any AI features on their Apple devices, even if they're missing a few key aspects at the moment. Or maybe those people who were willing to pay for Apple Intelligence did so based on getting the full feature set, rather than the incomplete range of abilities that are currently available. Alternatively, it could be that everyday users haven't been following Apple Intelligence's struggles as much as tech-savvy consumers and so aren't acutely aware of its early difficulties. Whatever the reasons, it's interesting to see how many people are still enticed by Apple Intelligence. It will be encouraging reading for Apple, which has faced much bad press for its AI system, and might suggest that Apple Intelligence is not in as bad a spot as we might have thought.

Morgan Stanley: Apple Intelligence Becoming Increasingly Important to iPhone Owners | PYMNTS.com

Consumers' perception of Apple's artificial intelligence (AI) platform is more favorable than that of investors, Morgan Stanley said in a research note released Tuesday (April 22). In the note, which the company provided to PYMNTS, Morgan Stanley said it found that the Apple Intelligence platform has been downloaded and engaged with by 80% of eligible U.S. iPhone owners in the last six months, has an above average net promoter score of 53, and is characterized by iPhone users as "easy to use, innovative, and something that improves their user experience." "While much of the public critique of Apple Intelligence is warranted, and investor sentiment and expectations on Apple's AI platform couldn't be lower, our survey of iPhone owners paints a more positive picture," Morgan Stanley said in the note. The survey also found that since September, the share of iPhone owners who believe it is extremely or very important to have Apple Intelligence support on their next iPhone rose 15 points to reach 42%. Among iPhone owners who are likely to upgrade their device in the next 12 months, the percentage saying that about the AI platform rose 20 points to reach 54%, according to the note. Morgan Stanley also found that consumers are willing to pay more for Apple Intelligence than they were in September. Those who have used the AI platform are now willing to pay an average of $9.11 per month for it, a figure that's 11% higher than the $8.17 average seen in September, per the note. "While we don't expect Apple to put Apple Intelligence behind a paywall until the platform is more built out, the potential long-term monetization of an Apple Intelligence subscription could reach tens of billions of dollars annually when considering a 1.4B global iPhone installed base, 32% (and growing) of US iPhone owners have an Apple Intelligence support iPhone, and users are willing to pay up to $9.11/month for Apple Intelligence," Morgan Stanley said in the note. Apple announced its suite of AI features in June, saying Apple Intelligence would revolutionize the iPhone,Mac and iPad experience, while keeping user data safe. The rollout of the offering over a period of months experienced some hiccups, including complaints that its AI summary tool was generating inaccurate headlines, leading Apple to remove the feature from its operating system.