Apple Music & TV+ prices hiked by up to 40%

There’s a huge increase to Apple’s streaming subscriptions.

What has been the cheapest streaming service for the last few years has gone up in price – but do you need to pay?

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How much is Apple TV+?

Since launch, Apple TV+ has cost £4.99 a month, or £49.99 a year. That made it the cheapest service out there.

Now it’s £6.99 a month or £69.99 a year. That is a massive 40% increase! Much higher than what we’ve seen from Netflix and Disney in recent years.

How much is Apple Music?

The price increase on Apple Music is smaller, up from £9.99 a month to £10.99 a month. The Family plan goes up by £2 to £16.99 a month. The Student plan stays at £5.99, though this only increased in the summer.

When are prices increasing?

For new customers, the higher prices are what you’ll pay as on 24 October 2022. Existing customers will be notified 30 days before they have to pay the increase, so it’s likely it’ll begin late November/early December 2022.

Why are prices going up?

With the TV+ service you can see why the price has gone up. Everything on the streaming service is original rather than old or other broadcasters’ shows, meaning when it launched in late 2019, Apple TV+ started off with very little content. Hence the low starting price (and loads of welcome offers).

But bit by bit, the amount of TV and films on the platform has grown, and there are some fantastic shows on there (as well as a fair amount that’s average). These obviously cost money.

For the music, Apple says it’s increased licensing costs, so more money will go to the artists.

Can you beat the price hike?

Despite the new prices, there are still a number of deals where you can get extended free trials on Apple Music and Apple TV+ – whether you’re a new or returning customer.

Curry’s for example will give three months free Apple TV+ to new members of its free Perks club, while I’ve just added five free months to my account thanks to an offer for Barclaycard customers. You can read more about these offers here.

If you can’t get these offers, then with the TV streaming packages I’d suggest you only ever pay for one service at a time. That means cancelling when you’re watching something else. So if you’re only going to have Apple TV+ for a month or two each year, you’ll only pay an extra £2 or £4, rather than £24 if you kept if for 12 months,

How do music streaming prices compare?

The Apple Music increase now makes it more expensive than Spotify for a solo plan, though the same price for the Family Plan. Spotify also offers a 2-month discount for paying annually and a mid-price “Duo” tier. Here’s more on saving money on Spotify.

How do TV streaming prices compare?

The new Apple TV+ price means it’s no longer the cheapest of the main streaming platforms. You can pay £5.99 a month for Amazon Prime Video, or £4.99 for Netflix’s new “Basic with adverts” tier, which launches on 3 November.