Apple Home's new AI camera features come with a steep monthly price
With iOS 27 and tvOS 27, Apple Home is adding AI-powered features to security cameras, but getting full access for up to five cameras can cost nearly $60 a month. Critics say the price jump is disproportionate compared to competitors.
Alongside the public release of iOS 27 and tvOS 27, Apple Home is rolling out new AI-driven capabilities called Apple Intelligence for Home. The update brings text-based summaries of what HomeKit Secure Video cameras capture, an improved video search function, and the ability to merge footage from multiple cameras into a single clip, making it easier to review activity around a home.
However, these features come at a significantly higher cost than before. Enabling Apple Intelligence for one camera requires the 2TB iCloud Plus plan at $9.99 a month, or an Apple One Premier subscription at $39.95 a month. Adding a second camera requires upgrading to the 6TB plan at $29.99 a month, while coverage for up to five cameras requires the 12TB plan at $59.99 a month. It remains unclear whether more than five cameras can be supported with AI features.
A steep jump from previous pricing
HomeKit Secure Video has always required a subscription, but it originally started at just $1 a month for a 50GB plan covering one camera. Multiple cameras already required pricier plans, but adding Apple Intelligence creates a much larger cost increase.
For example, someone currently paying $40 a month for Apple One Premier, which covers five cameras, would keep their existing benefits and gain Apple Intelligence for one camera under the new pricing — but would need to pay an additional $60 a month to extend AI features to all five cameras, totaling around $1,200 a year.
By comparison, competitors Amazon Ring and Google Nest charge around $20 a month for subscription tiers offering similar AI-powered camera features, while also providing more capabilities than Apple currently does. An iCloud Plus plan does include storage for photos, files, and backups, though Apple hasn't detailed how higher tiers affect other Apple Intelligence features.
Existing HomeKit Secure Video users won't lose any current functionality with the new software, which also brings under-the-hood improvements to speed and reliability, along with support for 4K video resolution.
