At its WWDC developer keynote, Apple announced further measures to reduce the cost for small and medium-sized developers to access AI. Under the new arrangement, developers whose first App Store downloads are less than 2 million can use Apple Foundation Models for free on Private Cloud Compute, without paying cloud API fees.

Reduce trial and error costs for small teams

This adjustment shows that Apple is trying to bring more independent developers and early-stage teams into its AI ecosystem. As the cost of generative AI development continues to rise, model access, inference, and cloud resource expenditures have become a real burden for many small teams when advancing their products.

At the meeting, Apple emphasized that this arrangement is primarily aimed at developers who are still in the early stages. The company's threshold is "less than 2 million initial downloads," a approach similar to its previous Small Business Program for small and medium-sized developers, both aiming to attract early-stage teams to continue developing and distributing applications on the Apple platform with lower barriers to entry.

Foundation Models Extended Image and Server Models

In addition to the price adjustment, Apple also stated that the Foundation Models framework will continue to expand this year, adding image input capabilities and support for server models.

This means that developers will not only be able to utilize Apple's own capabilities in the future, but also connect the API to their chosen cloud model service providers to handle more complex tasks. Apple's key point is to make it easier for developers to connect when they need larger-scale cloud models.

AI development costs continue to rise

Apple's recent adjustment reflects a clearer trend in the AI industry: experimentation and iteration are no longer cheap. For small teams without substantial budgets, continuously using large models often leads to rapidly escalating costs.

Against this backdrop, Apple is attempting to position its model as a lower-cost option, especially for developers unwilling to bear the additional costs of cloud services. For Apple, this is not only a pricing strategy adjustment but also a way to win more early-stage projects in the competitive developer ecosystem.

Meanwhile, tech companies are also reassessing their AI spending pace. The report mentions that Meta and Amazon have canceled their internal AI token usage leaderboards, mechanisms that previously encouraged developers to extensively test AI tools. Uber also recently stated that its 2026 AI budget was exhausted within four months, demonstrating that large enterprises are also facing pressure to control AI costs.