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Apple Made Nearly $900 Million From Generative AI Apps Last Year
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Apple isn’t claiming anything. This is an independent claim by an analyst company, “Generative AI apps paid Apple nearly $900 million in App Store fees in 2025, according to the analysis firm AppMagic.”
That was then reported by the WSJ.
Let’s not criticize Apple for what others are claiming for them.
Happy_John
macrumors 65816
BeatsByTim
macrumors regular
As a stockholder, I'm glad someone is making money in this bubble nonsense.
Goldwater
macrumors newbie
As far as I’m concerned, AI companies won’t remain software companies for good. A 30% commission is a significant debit on their revenues. Otherwise, Apple should remain their key hardware source as it lags behind in AI arms race.
Apple collected nearly $900 million in App Store fees from generative AI apps in 2025, according to data from analysis firm AppMagic, covered by The Wall Street Journal ($).
The overwhelming majority of Apple's AI app commission revenue came courtesy of ChatGPT downloads leading to subsequent subscriptions, which alone accounted for around 75 percent of the above total. Elon Musk's Grok app came a distant second, making up just 5 percent of the revenue.
Apple is now said to be on course to earn $1 billion in generative app revenue this year. Given how behind the company is in the AI race, highlighted by the sluggish progress of its enhanced Siri rollout, it's a tidy sum indeed.
Of course, the reason Apple benefits from the popularity of AI apps built by other companies is that the iPhone remains the smartphone market leader. Most AI apps still have to go through its App Store, where Apple takes a commission of up to 30 percent on subscriptions. As the report notes:
The revenue stands in contrast to Apple's relatively modest AI spending compared to rivals like Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, all of whom have poured tens of billions into AI infrastructure, with little to no profit yet to show for it. Meanwhile, Apple's capital expenditures have remained comparatively flat, thanks to its prioritization of investment in on-device AI over large data centers filled with GPU processors.
The strategy won't enable a more capable Siri, but Apple appears to be happy to lean on Google to provide the necessary AI infrastructure for that. The two companies announced in January that Gemini will power a revamped version of Apple's virtual assistant, coming later this year. The financial terms of the partnership haven't been disclosed, but Bloomberg reported last year that the deal would be around $1 billion annually. That will give Apple access to a 1.2 trillion parameter model that dwarfs its in-house capabilities.
Perhaps the deeper irony is that Google already pays Apple around $20 billion per year to remain the default search engine on iPhones, so now money is flowing in the other direction too, albeit at a drastically lower rate.
Still, some investors see the App Store approach as a more viable long-term strategy. Charles Rinehart, chief investment officer of Johnson Asset Management, told WSJ that if Apple "can act as a toll road for providers of AI, then they'll probably end up looking good long-term."
Article Link: Apple Made Nearly $900 Million From Generative AI Apps Last Year
sw1tcher
macrumors 604
Source? I'm honestly curious.
I ask because from what Apple has been telling us, they're still selling way more MacBooks (Neo, Air, Pro) than Mac minis or Studios. There's way way more demand for MacBooks. So I don't see how Mac desktops are this "silent sneak attack" you claim them to be.
Apple Announces New Mac Sales Record Following MacBook Neo Launch
Apple's CEO Tim Cook today said the Mac just had its "best launch week ever for first-time Mac customers," which suggests that the new MacBook Neo has been a hit with customers buying their first laptops or switching from Windows. Apple released the MacBook Neo last Wednesday, March 11. In the...
www.macrumors.com
Apple's CEO Tim Cook today said the Mac just had its "best launch week ever for first-time Mac customers," which suggests that the new MacBook Neo has been a hit with customers buying their first laptops or switching from Windows.
Apple also released MacBook Air models with the M5 chip and MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips last week, so it was a big week for new Macs, but the affordable MacBook Neo is likely driving the record number of first-time Mac buyers.
OpenClaw demand in China is driving up the price of used MacBooks
People in China are rushing to buy preowned computers to try OpenClaw with demand for MacBooks particularly high, according to one reseller.
So many people in China are rushing to try the OpenClaw artificial intelligence tool that they’re driving up prices for secondhand Mac computers.
That’s according to Jeremy Ji, chief strategy officer and general manager of international business at ATRenew, a used consumer electronics buyer and reseller that works with Apple and retailer JD.com in mainland China.
ATRenew’s Ji said the company is seeing people trade-in their MacBooks with older M1 and M2 chips for computers with the M4 or M5 chip. “We do see the growing demand for laptops, PCs as a whole, but the Mac devices benefit from that trend [to try OpenClaw] above all.”
Consumer interest in more powerful secondhand MacBooks is “still going very strong,” Ji said, noting that ATRenew has had to increase its price for buying back devices in order to increase the supply of secondhand Macs available for purchase. He predicted the trend could continue “throughout the whole year.”
ATRenew’s Ji declined to share the exact volume of MacBooks handled since late February, but noted the average number of devices the company processed last year was around 100,000 a day. He expects the share of MacBook and other laptop or personal computing devices could grow to 20% of the business, up from 15% right now.
Apple removed the 512GB RAM upgrade option on the Mac Studio. Why would Apple do that when AI processing is a memory intensive task? If you're doing AI on a Mac, wouldn't you want more RAM?
Mac Studio 512GB RAM Option Disappears Amid Global DRAM Shortage
Apple quietly updated Mac Studio configuration options this week, removing the 512GB memory upgrade. As of yesterday, there is no option to purchase a Mac Studio with 512GB RAM, with the machine now maxing out at 256GB. The Mac Studio starts with 36GB RAM, but there were upgrades ranging from...
www.macrumors.com
When Apple priorities the MacBook line by upgrading them first (none of the Mac desktops have gotten upgrade M5 chips yet), that tells me that Mac desktops aren't this silent big seller
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It all about market share baby! And Apple is the King makers for that! Also, the relationship between Open AI and Microsoft is starting to sour, nobody uses Copilot. Microsoft Copilot is worst than clippy!
con2apple
macrumors 6502
Yes, I just bought a M5 MacBook Air with a ton of RAM so that I can run OpenClaw!
con2apple
macrumors 6502
Except for people over 50, for whom it’s all magic anyway.
And scammers who use it to rip people off.
And shareholders who want even more growth.
And politicians who believe everything these machines tells them.
So the really important groups of people want AI. But not normal ones.
Not sure it was an intentional brilliant move, but rather a fortunate happenstance from Apple incompetence.
Initially Apple scrambled to catch up, and only realized partnering up with Google was the better course of action.
Glideslope
macrumors G3
Tim plays the long game. Always has. That doesn’t always play well with certain mind sets. Plays very well for most. Easily one of the most effective CEO’s of his generation.
IIGS User
macrumors 65816
AI is the Pets.com of the 2020's.
Most of you probably weren't around to remember the .com bubble and crash that followed.
Not to say AI isn't a viable technology. It will change things the same way commercialization of the internet did in many ways.
One fact a lot of people forget about the .com bust was the miles and miles of "dark" fiber that was left over (anyone remember Global Crossing). A lot of investors who got in late lost a lot of money. All that un used fiber capacity laid the groundwork for cheap high speed internet that led to things like streaming video (that pretty much killed cable, and made long distance calls just about free).
We're talking 25-30 years ago. Just long enough for a generation to forget that every "boom" has a whole host of grifters and charlatans who make giant bags of money while Joe S&it the Rag Man loses half his 401K on the back end of the "bust".
It's all happening again. Give it 18 months at the longest.
Most of you probably weren't around to remember the .com bubble and crash that followed.
Not to say AI isn't a viable technology. It will change things the same way commercialization of the internet did in many ways.
One fact a lot of people forget about the .com bust was the miles and miles of "dark" fiber that was left over (anyone remember Global Crossing). A lot of investors who got in late lost a lot of money. All that un used fiber capacity laid the groundwork for cheap high speed internet that led to things like streaming video (that pretty much killed cable, and made long distance calls just about free).
We're talking 25-30 years ago. Just long enough for a generation to forget that every "boom" has a whole host of grifters and charlatans who make giant bags of money while Joe S&it the Rag Man loses half his 401K on the back end of the "bust".
It's all happening again. Give it 18 months at the longest.
Thats not what this is about. This is about App store fees they received from subscription services. They will still be making money off of other products.
They were likely trying to get Apple to use their service when everyone saw the flailing that Apple has had with AI, so used this as a bargaining tool. Consumer choice is also something most companies will allow in these situations, and with how relatively new LLMs are, adding any sort of barrier isn't going to be something they want to do.
sw1tcher
macrumors 604
Not even an apples to apples comparison.
All the fiber that was being built out back then was being financed with debt, not to mention that there was more supply than demand. Global Crossing, WorldCom, Qwest, Level 3 Communications, etc... they all raised billions and billions in debt in hopes of massive demand that didn't materialize until a decade later.
Meanwhile, the AI / data center build out today is being paid for (mostly) by the free cash flow from highly profitable companies (e.g. Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, NVidia, IBM, etc.). I'm aware there are a handful of companies, namely Oracle, who are paying for it with debt.
Oh, and there's way more demand than supply. If you listen to the earnings conference calls from Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, CoreWeave, Nebius, etc. They all say demand is outstripping supply, with huge demand backlogs.
Just look at what CoreWeave told investors last month
CoreWeave Reports Strong Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2025 Results
Robust Demand and Focused Execution Drive Strong Results and Record Revenue Backlog CoreWeave, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRWV), The Essential Cloud for AI™, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2025. “2025 was a defining year for CoreWeave as we became...
“Our revenue backlog grew to $66.8 billion, more than four times where we began the year, providing exceptional visibility as we scale into 2026 and beyond. CoreWeave is well positioned for sustained hypergrowth.”
Or Nebius a few days ago
AI cloud firm Nebius posts surge in capex on GPU, data center expenses
Nebius Group reported a sharp rise in quarterly capital spending on Thursday, driven by purchases of artificial intelligence processors and growing data center investments, as the AI cloud firm rushes to secure capacity to meet soaring demand.
"Demand from enterprises and AI native customers continues to outpace supply, allowing us to sell future capacity well in advance ... We are very focused on investing resources to continue expanding our capabilities in 2026 both organically and through targeted acquisitions," Nebius CEO Arkady Volozh said in a letter to shareholders.
Nebius reported a more than six-fold surge in revenue to $227.7 million for the fourth quarter.
The company expects to end 2026 with an annualized revenue run-rate of $7 billion to $9 billion, compared with the $1.25 billion at the end of 2025.
rp2011
macrumors 68040
Good to see SOMEONE/ANYONE make money on AI.
...And it's the company who is "behind" and hasn't got into debt for lol
...And it's the company who is "behind" and hasn't got into debt for lol
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Relevant information:
App Magic ONLY has detailed data for companies with apps that use their service. Quite specifically, there NO way of them how much is being spent via IAP’s through companies NOT using their service. This is “analysis” in the weakest sense of the word. Published by WSJ because it doesn’t matter if the number is not well researched OR outright wrong, what matters is how many ads get viewed.
App Magic ONLY has detailed data for companies with apps that use their service. Quite specifically, there NO way of them how much is being spent via IAP’s through companies NOT using their service. This is “analysis” in the weakest sense of the word. Published by WSJ because it doesn’t matter if the number is not well researched OR outright wrong, what matters is how many ads get viewed.
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krbrock1
macrumors member
Perhaps the long game view is supply the conduit of AI services without actually developing the tech itself right now? Apparently, there is still an imminent bubble that is about to blow up, how would investors feel if we miscalculated...
Playing it safe gents.
Abazigal
Contributor
You can either have 70% of a ton of subscriptions being funnelled to your business by virtue of being the preinstalled default on iOS (which then increases to 85% in the 2nd year), or you can have 100% of nothing because the reality is that many people can't be bothered to visit your website to sign up for it.
Which is one of the arguments I have been making in favour of the App Store for quite a while now - that Apple does deserve something for the role they have played in building up the app marketplace, in getting users to trust the process of purchasing and downloading apps, and in facilitating transactions between the customer and the developer.
You can argue that maybe 30% is too high, but it's hard to make the case that it should be 0% either.
Lioness~
macrumors 601
I bet, and people are buying it thinking Apple are the good guys, but they just charge more then others everywhere.
I found out, I'll never subscribe through Apple again, anywhere - for any service/channel where it is another choice, and it often is, unless it's on Apple's own plattform.
On subs. at YT-channels for instace, Apple charges 25-30% more then what YouTube do.
I do use iCloud, and I might use AppleTV 1-2 month/some yrs.
Nothing else from St.Apple 😇
MacBH928
macrumors G3
I feel sorry for the people who do not know they can get 30% discount if they subscribe outside the app store.
no friend, the in App Store subscriptions is hiked 30%. It would be $20/month on chatgpt.com and $26 via the iOS app to make up for the Apple cut.
EDIT: After checking, unlike other subscription services, ChatGPT charges same subscription price via App Store and their official website.
no friend, the in App Store subscriptions is hiked 30%. It would be $20/month on chatgpt.com and $26 via the iOS app to make up for the Apple cut.
EDIT: After checking, unlike other subscription services, ChatGPT charges same subscription price via App Store and their official website.
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Abazigal
Contributor
Last I checked, not really. It’s $30/month (in my country’s currency) regardless of whether I subscribe via the app or through their website. So at the end of the day, it’s up to the user to decide whether they would like for openAI to get 100% of subscriber revenue (minus payment processing fees) or for a portion of that to go to Apple as well.
I know some services charge you more via the app (to make up for Apple’s 30% cut, such as twitch subs or YouTube premium), but for now at least, chatGPT is jot one of them.
