Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ Apple Increases Apple Music, Apple One, and AppleCare+ Prices Adam Engst At 9to5Mac, [1]Chance Miller writes: Apple has raised the price of Apple Music today in the United States and other countries. Starting today, Apple Music's Individual plan now costs $11.99 per month, up from $10.99. Apple has also increased the price of select Apple One bundles. In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple said: 'As a result of rising licensing costs, Apple Music is increasing its subscription price beginning today.' Apple last raised Apple Music prices almost 4 years ago, blaming increased licensing costs then as well (see '[2]Apple Raises the Price of Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple One,' 24 October 2022). However, during the previous price increase, Apple told 9to5Mac that artists and songwriters would earn more per stream; no such comment was made this time. For [3]Apple Music, the new monthly pricing plans are: * Individual: $11.99 ($1 increase, or 9%) * Family: $19.99 ($3 increase, or 18%) * Student: $6.99 ($1 increase, or 17%) For the [4]Apple One bundle that includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and iCloud+ (along with Apple News+ and Apple Fitness+ in the Premier plan), the monthly plans now cost: * Individual: $19.95 (unchanged) * Family: $27.95 ($2 increase, or 8%) * Premier: $39.95 ($2 increase, or 5%) The winners here are those who subscribe to the Apple One Individual plan, whose price remains unchanged at $19.95. For everyone else, the attractiveness of Apple One still comes down to what you actually use; see '[5]Do You Use It? Apple Services See Widely Varying Popularity' (4 December 2023) for insight into how TidBITS readers view Apple's services. These Apple Music price increases aren't entirely surprising, given how prices have risen sharply in recent years. It's a little hard to see Apple as suffering from increased licensing costs over the past four years, given the massive revenue generated by the company's Services segment'a whopping $61 billion in the first half of 2026 alone. But Apple is in business to make money, so if licensing costs are threatening the 77% gross margins enjoyed by Services (see '[6]Apple Propelled to Record Q1 2026 Financials by iPhone and Services,' 30 January 2026), clearly prices must go up. Separately, 9to5Mac's Marcus Mendes wrote that Apple has also [7]increased the prices of its AppleCare+ plans by $0.50 per month or $5 per year. Apple gave no explanation for these increases, but given that AppleCare+ repairs may involve memory and storage, it's plausible that they're related to rising component costs responsible for driving up Mac and iPad prices (see '[8]Apple Raises Prices for Many Products,' 26 June 2026). References 1. https://9to5mac.com/2026/07/17/apple-raises-prices-for-apple-music-and-apple-one-subscriptions/ 2. https://tidbits.com/2022/10/24/apple-raises-the-price-of-apple-music-apple-tv-and-apple-one/ 3. https://www.apple.com/apple-music/ 4. https://www.apple.com/apple-one/ 5. https://tidbits.com/2023/12/04/do-you-use-it-apple-services-see-widely-varying-popularity/ 6. https://tidbits.com/2026/01/30/apple-propelled-to-record-q1-2026-financials-by-iphone-and-services/#:~:text=gross%20margins%20of%20nearly%2077%25 7. https://9to5mac.com/2026/07/15/applecare-gets-a-price-increase-for-new-mac-and-ipad-plans/ 8. https://tidbits.com/2026/06/26/apple-raises-prices-for-many-products/ .