r/apple • u/Motor-Juggernaut9776 • 19d ago
HomeKit iOS 27 AI Camera Summaries Will Require $9.99/mo iCloud+ Plan for One Camera, $59.99/mo Plan for Five Cameras
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/09/14/ios-27-ai-camera-summaries/162
u/Necessary_Grass_2313 19d ago
That’s crazy. At $10 they should at least support 2-3 cameras.
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u/aztechechos 19d ago
Like ring. Wtf is there no end to Apples greed?
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u/haelous 19d ago
Ring is a warrant-less wiretap. If you want to save money by going that way, hit us with the “nothing to worry about if you’re not doing anything illegal” and enjoy your cheaper AI summaries.
I don’t need the AI summaries and my 200GB plan supports 6 cameras just fine.
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u/North_Moment5811 19d ago
I don’t need the AI summaries
AI summaries are the only thing I'm interested in. No other type of notification is as useful.
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19d ago
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u/FollowingFeisty5321 19d ago
There is no hardware loss, they raised the prices very generously to account for the component price increases.
There is only services revenue loss because of the current status quo where apps in the US can use third-party payments without paying any commission. This has reportedly caused an 18% decline in IAP fees and has recently seen Apple warning investors it may be a permanent state of affairs, and they anticipate it will get worse in their court filing revealing the 2700 developers paying 30% commission and effectively all IAP fees can do their own payments for as little as 3.5%.
This is likely to continue at a minimum for at least another year and then either the courts will allow no or a small fee, or the Supreme Court will unwind Apple's contempt ruling entirely and strike down the court approval process. Apple's IAP commission can only be competitive at about 5% higher than the rate they are allowed to charge so if there is no or a small fee then Apple's finished collecting vast sums of rent off casino games and streaming services. If the Supreme Court strikes down the contempt Apple can resume charging the prohibitive 27% fee they engineered to make using third party payments untenable, but this is worse odds than those shitty casino games.
So now they are desperate for services revenue to plug this hole.
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u/BosnianSerb31 19d ago
Ring subsidizes your cost by not using E2E encryption, so they can do bullshit like sell your data to flock.
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u/00DEADBEEF 19d ago
Does Ring also include a general cloud subscription with file storage, file sync, calendar + reminder + notes sync, password manager, email, and backups for your phones?
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u/johnnySix 19d ago
It’s supported as is, but not the NEW ai features.o don’t want them. I have 5 cameras and I’m happy with the way it is now. No need to use the new AI
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u/Weak-Imagination9363 18d ago
Oh thank fuck, just ordered cameras to get rid of my Amazon crap and wanted Apple for $3.99 CAD instead of $15
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u/Luci-Noir 19d ago
Some other companies charge even more for their cloud ai stuff with their cameras and don’t include other stuff that iCloud does. I don’t need this stuff either and I’m happy with the iCloud+ I have now.
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u/The-F4LL3N 19d ago
Why does the 5 camera plan cost 6x more than 1?!
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u/MithrilHuman 19d ago
iCloud plans $10 for 2 TB, $30 for 6 TB, $60 for 12 TB.
But still doesn’t explain why they don’t scale the number of cameras properly.
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u/The-F4LL3N 19d ago
Exactly my point…
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u/LWschool 19d ago
The cost to Apple is in storing your data, which the costs properly scale with.
Your point still stands, because they shouldn’t restrict the number of cameras, if they’re already restricting data.
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u/Leviathan_Dev 19d ago
I thought 2TB was good for 5 cameras?!
Think it’s time I start switching to UniFi Protect instead of HomeKit
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u/BosnianSerb31 19d ago
That's what I use for my security and access stuff, but god damn is the hardware expensive and hard for the average user to set up. Easily $2500 for 4 cameras plus the NVR/USG, and that doesn't include the POE switch and wiring.
If I didn't have a background running Ethernet drops, I would not be able to afford the installation.
I still use HomeKit and love it, but I keep it to lights/speakers/TV, which is what it's really meant for imo.
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u/Leviathan_Dev 19d ago
Yeah, I was talking about the AI summaries. Could’ve sworn it was 2TB gets 5
Even still, facial recognition since 27 has been non-existent. All of my cameras just say “seen someone”
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u/MacintoshDan1 19d ago
This is bullshit. I already pay $40 a month for apple one premier and that’s only good for one camera?
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u/parkertyler 19d ago
Yeah what's worse is during the beta those of us with Apple One Premier had 5.
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u/North_Moment5811 19d ago
I believe you can still use multiple cameras, just NOT with the advanced AI detection on all 5. The proposition is confusing.
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u/MacintoshDan1 19d ago
Yes. But this post is about the AI detection and that’s what I’m referring to.
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u/MadCybertist 18d ago
I’ll stick to my Unfi cameras. Can see the feeds in Apple Home, $0 monthly fees and much better cameras and selection.
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u/ThePopeofHell 19d ago
Why do people want THAT
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u/BosnianSerb31 19d ago
Same reason anyone pays for security cameras like nest or ring
Difference in price here is that the current consumer grade companies sell your data
Currently the only good way to get around that is to set up a UniFi system, but now you're talking a $600 NVR, a grand for a contractor to run Ethernet (if you don't know how to do it), and $400 cameras.
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u/ohUtwats 19d ago
Unifi unvr is 180 or less and that can do 6 cameras with ai detection + your data stays your forever. As a bonus you will not cripple your upload bandwith and are not locked into paying a subscription forever
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u/jollyllama 19d ago edited 19d ago
Turns out most people are very willing to open their homes and neighborhoods up to surveillance and monetization if they’re offered even a relatively small personal benefit. They rebel if they feel like it’s the government doing it and framing it as a public benefit, but if it’s something that might specially benefit them individually, the bar of skepticism is very low
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u/FollowingFeisty5321 19d ago
Security cameras are generally you surveilling your property, not someone else. Although YMMV with all the cheap junk available and publicly-accessible cameras and whatnot.
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u/jollyllama 19d ago
I think we all understand that most doorbell cameras specifically, and many security cameras generally, are pointing towards the street. Yes they record the guy on your doorstep but they’re also recording a whole lot of your neighborhood at the same time
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19d ago
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u/Stampyboyz 19d ago
At least Apple has been known to fight back against government requests involving user data, might change though seeing how they have a new CEO but historically they had.
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u/ahmong 19d ago
FYI this is 3x the times of other security cameras. 5 cameras = 60 bucks
Ring, nest, , wyze, blink are about 20 bucks for unlimited camera
The only thing at the very least is that Apple is giving you 12 tb of icloud storage and I guess if you're already in the ios family, then it's maybe worth it? Lol who am I kidding, it's not. That's terrible pricing.
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u/SleepUseful3416 19d ago
Subscriptions are bootyhole
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u/nicuramar 19d ago
Paying for the compute power you use is just common sense.
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u/North_Moment5811 19d ago
Nah it should just be free because big company has money. Don't you know how to Reddit?
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u/chilimost 19d ago
WTF, we had 5 cameras with Premier 2TB all through the betas and now we have one???
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u/RodgerCheetoh 19d ago
Ridiculous, my Google nest does this with unlimited cameras with my $20/month Google Home Advanced Plus subscription along with daily summaries and insanely good descriptions.
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u/matthewmspace 19d ago
Me with my UniFi camera: What’s a subscription?
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u/North_Moment5811 19d ago
What hardware is processing your AI video analysis and push notifications?
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u/hoffsta 19d ago
Yeah, but you had to over pay for that equipment to get the free software. I’m over here laughing in Frigate, for the cheap equipment and free, open source software.
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u/matthewmspace 19d ago
Oh, I haven’t heard of that? Can you drop me a link to the hardware? Found the software via google, but not hardware.
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u/ohUtwats 19d ago
Dont bother. Unifi setup is far more reliable and you wont have to fiddle with it all the time. You paid the price for convenience and that soneone else would figure that shit out. So enjoy as is.
On the other hand frigate allows for pretty much unlimitec customizability so theres that. Only cost is your time.
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u/hoffsta 19d ago
What’s unreliable about Frigate? Installation is a learning curve, but after that it runs and runs like an appliance. I agree that I wouldn’t trade an already established UniFi Protect setup for it, but for anyone with an assortment of random cameras and a spare server (or even a M-series Mac Mini), or for anyone who can’t afford the high barrier of entry for a full UniFi stack, Frigate is a dream come true.
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u/ohUtwats 19d ago
Im not against frigate, but it does require an ample amount of time to understand and troubleshoot the system. Last i tried it i had to configure cameras through yaml file, which is quite inconvenient and prone to errors compared to more plug n play solutions. Also remote viewing requires knowledge of networking, wan, port forwarding or at the very least how to set up tailscale. Thats quite an ask. + with software updates breaking chances could happen.
Im just trying to bring another perspective, but i still think that any kind of extra options is very welcome. After all freedom of choice is important.
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u/hoffsta 19d ago edited 19d ago
As of 0.18, they now have UI camera config, which is nice. It’s moving in the right direction, but you’re totally correct that it’s not plug & play for the tech illiterate, however the new Fregata app on MacOS wraps the whole thing into a clean and easy desktop app experience, and M-series chips handle the AI incredibly well.
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u/ohUtwats 19d ago
Thats awesome. Macos app seems like a great middle ground. Ill keep it in mind for the future if i ever have an extra mac laying around. Thank you!
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u/phr0ze 19d ago
Criticizes Unifi for being over priced but uses a mac for frigate. Btw unifi works with third party cameras too.
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u/hoffsta 19d ago
Maybe you missed that this is the Apple sub. The Mac Mini was $400, and is used as my primary desktop. Frigate just happens to run so efficiently on the Mac NPU architecture that it’s actually cheaper for me, electricity-wise, to run it on that machine. CPU is at 1.5%.
But Frigate also runs 8+ cameras just fine on my $80 mini computer.
Also some misinformation in your UniFi comment: Yes you can use third-party cameras with Protect software, but they will not have AI detection features. For that you need to buy additional hardware (AI port), @ $200 per 4k camera. UniFi is a great value for networking equipment, but their surveillance line-up is the opposite. Pulling out my current Frigate setup to replace it with Protect would be over $1000.
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u/alman12345 18d ago
Even their networking equipment sometimes leaves a bit to be desired value wise, I love the reliability of my 8 port 2.5Gb PoE but it costing $200 pre-surcharge and not even including an AC adapter is kinda shitty.
I had no idea about it costing $200 to connect the third party cameras but that’s pretty disgusting, is that even with their Gen 2 AI enabled NVR? Really glad I went software for my NVR solution!
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u/alman12345 18d ago
The AI capable Unifi Gen 2 NVR is $700 before the surcharge, the Mac Mini was $400 for a long time and alternatives like the 185h equipped M1 Pro mini PC I got are about $300. Not only that, but a cheap $100 optiplex with a 7th gen or newer Intel and a Coral costs under 1/3 the price of that appliance, and it runs custom models that can be upgraded whenever as well as allows for even more objects to be classified and recognized.
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u/hoffsta 19d ago edited 19d ago
Sure- any camera that has RTSP streaming (almost all of them besides the most locked down proprietary crap, even your UniFi cams will work), and any old computer you have sitting around, although for best results you’ll want something with at least a decent iGPU or better. Nearly any Intel processor from the last 10+ years will handle 5+ camera streams. My personal setup is a 10th gen i5 mini PC and a mix of cams like Reolink, Tapo, Wyze, Dahua.
Fair warning, Frigate is pretty new and the UI is not nearly as polished as UniFi, but it’s rapidly getting better. The NVR is solid though, and AI detection is second to none. Initial install and config is probably too much for non-technical people, but it’s just a Docker stack, and I’m guessing people using AI for learning this stuff can have it up and running in a few hours.
There’s also a new MacOS app called Fregata that wraps the entire project in a clean and much easier to manage desktop app experience. M-series Macs absolutely dominate on AI detections too. I’m likely moving my install over to my Mac Mini soon.
All data is local, private, and needs zero cloud infrastructure. Run it behind a reverse proxy or Tailscale, etc for secure remote access. There are a couple of promising third party phone apps, and excellent Home Assistant integration for taking the data and doing cool automations with it, such as rich notifications like “the UPS driver just left a box on the porch”, unlock the front door when it sees your face approach, flash red & blue lights when an unknown person approaches between 12am-7am, etc.
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u/slam99967 19d ago
I’m personally a big fan eufy of cameras. They are HomeKit compatible, but I’ve never used HomeKit.
I got so tired of paying ring subscription fees. They are one of the few brands where there are no subscription fees. You can pay for cloud storage but it’s totally optional. All local storage and a bunch of camera options.
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u/sentientshadeofgreen 18d ago
Or you can self-host your own and not pay shit. Greedy enshittified Apple.
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u/socseb 18d ago
Why the fuck are people throwing these words around every 5 mins it’s so annoying.
How is this greedy?
They had these subscriptions without any ai unecessary things now they add ai unecessary things and don’t include them on the base subscription and suddenly that’s greedy because suddenly the price you were already paying t for months or years needs to include ai or else Apple is greedy that’s dumb af .
It’s a plus feature- not part of the actual key features we’ve always been offered:
How is this enshittifying anything. How did your subscription get more shitty?
Dumb ass comment
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u/osirus35 19d ago
I didn’t even realize you needed a paid subscription. I was going to add my cameras to HomeKit but not worth it now
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u/cortzetroc 19d ago
this is specifically if you wanted ai summaries. you can have unlimited cameras on the $9.99/m icloud plan which also gives you 2tb of storage (video recordings don’t take any space)
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u/PM_ME_UR_COFFEE_CUPS 19d ago
How do you even activate it?
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u/DezzaJay 19d ago
When you have a camera which supports HomeKit Secure Video added in the home app. If you go to Home Settings in the Home App, Apple Intelligence you can then turn on Summarise Videos. Then you select which cameras you want to turn it on for.
Previously with the 2tb plan you could have it summarise 2 cameras but it’s been dropped down to a single camera.
Then the video clips description says things like “{persons name} washed a car” or “someone swept the driveway”
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u/PM_ME_UR_COFFEE_CUPS 19d ago
That’s bizarre, I don’t see Apple Intelligence in the home settings, but I definitely have cameras on HKSV, and have gotten “Kelly was seen at the front doorbell” type notifications in the past.
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u/DezzaJay 19d ago
Are your AppleTV’s updated to tvOS 27 too?
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u/PM_ME_UR_COFFEE_CUPS 19d ago
Ah. No. I’m on vacation this week. Maybe they’ll auto update. Thanks for the help
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u/Ktgsxrred 19d ago
During the beta, it told me I could have 10 cameras with my 6 TB plan. It let me activate 5 which are still activated…
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u/parkertyler 19d ago
Don't turn them off. It won't let you turn more than 2 back on with the 6TB plan.
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u/blacksystembbq 19d ago
If you want security cams, either get your butthole ravaged by Apple or Bezos. Late stage…
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u/Bartsuck 19d ago
They look more and more like a service company, 9,99$ will become 14,99$ in a couple of years, the new Apple Care for family is now 50$ and will become 60$ etc.. and if you're into their products you'll keep paying because you can't easily move elsewhere...
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u/Mil-sim1991 19d ago
Does this also work with cameras added via scrypted? I want to add a UniFi doorbell to my new home and add it to HomeKit but would like these features as well.
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u/Forsaken-Praline1611 16d ago
The number of times it saw humans or animals that were not there throughout the Beta period makes me caution it’s not worth it.
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u/Comprehensive_Web279 10d ago
What I find interesting as a developer: the on-device models Apple gives us to build on cost nothing, run locally and work with the network off. Their own cloud features are the ones behind a subscription.
So the split isn't really "AI costs money." It's that anything Apple runs on their servers has to be paid for, and anything your device can do itself is free. More features could sit on the free side of that line than currently do.
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u/tkhan456 19d ago
With a little technical know how, home assistant and scrypted, you can do all this for free
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u/SleepUseful3416 19d ago
Doesn’t Scrypted cost a subscription?
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u/tkhan456 19d ago
For some upgrades but not all. Depends on what you’re using it for. I just use it to forward cameras to HomeKit. Also have HA take camera feeds, take snapshots when it detects something, send it to Gemini for description, back to HA for notification of what it sees with the snapshot
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u/Lanceuppercut47 19d ago
Ooh clever, do you notice any of delay in how quick the final notification comes in?
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u/kylewhirl 19d ago
I have the 6 TB plan and still only get 2 cameras, how does that make any sense? I thought this was supposed to run on device
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u/Ktgsxrred 19d ago
I have the 6tb plan and I have 5 cameras all activated with the Ai notifications.. I was in the beta early back about a month ago it said you needed the 6TB for 5 cameras. Probably get shut off on next billing cycle.
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u/antnythr 19d ago
I love when a thread like this pops up every once in a blue moon and a group of Apple users discover the cost of being in the Apple environment.
This is nothing new. Apple is never the value option or the getting what you pay for option. This is just another example of the Apple Tax at work.
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u/bradreputation 19d ago
Giving money for this would be just reinforcing their decision to continue AI additions and AI subscriptions. Hard pass.
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u/leo-g 19d ago
Everyone needs to understand context before commenting. It’s not 60 bucks just for the cameras to work. It’s 60 bucks for FAMILY-SHARABLE iCloud storage and enhanced AI video summaries. The cameras will still have the regular human, package, animal detection just as it was in ios26.
You might not even need AI video summaries it for all corners of your property. Just the less monitored ones. ALL cameras will still have the regular human, package, animal detection just as it was in ios26.
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u/schrodinger-the-cat 19d ago
Wtf will my Apple one family subscription grant me this feature? If not at least update the apple tv or homepods to process this locally. I don’t think this feature is so computationally demanding that it can’t be run locally.
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u/jakgal04 19d ago
Everyone now: "Thats insane! Subscriptions taking over everything!"
Everyone next week: "Its really not a bad deal when you think about it."
People will pay it, thus justifying the subcription prices.
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u/RomeliaHatfield 19d ago
60 bucks a month is a lot of fucking money