Apple is hoping to attract newer developers with lower AI infrastructure costs, the company announced Monday during its developer keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference. The tech giant said developers with fewer than 2 million initial App Store downloads can use the underlying model, which runs on private cloud computing, with no cloud API costs.
“This is access to frontier-level intelligence with unparalleled privacy protections, because infrastructure costs shouldn’t hold you back when you start thinking about ideas,” the presenters said.
The “less than 2 million” number is another way to reach an audience of indie developers, similar to what Apple does with its Small Business Program, where the company offers lower commission rates to small developers who are just starting to build apps and haven’t yet made millions of dollars.
Apple also noted that the Foundation Models framework will be expanded this year to include support for image inputs and server models. This means that the API will now allow developers to integrate with their cloud model provider of choice, making it “as accessible as possible” to launch large-scale cloud models as needed for more complex tasks, Apple said.
The move reflects a growing reality in the AI industry that experimentation is no longer cheap. By waiving infrastructure fees for small developers, Apple is positioning its model as a low-cost alternative for developers who don’t want to incur additional cloud fees.
It’s not just small developers who are tightening their grip these days. Tech giants like Meta and Amazon have discontinued internal AI token usage leaderboards where developers once competed to experiment with AI tools and burn cash. Meanwhile, Uber recently announced that it had used up its 2026 AI budget in just four months, a news that some believe is a sign that the company needs to be more fiscally responsible when it comes to AI.
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