Apple bets cheaper AI will woo small developers

苹果押注更廉价的 AI 以吸引小型开发者

Apple is hoping to draw in newer developers with lower AI infrastructure costs, the company announced during its developer keynote at its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday. 苹果公司在周一的全球开发者大会（WWDC）主题演讲中宣布，希望通过降低 AI 基础设施成本来吸引更多新晋开发者。

The tech giant said that developers with fewer than 2 million first-time App Store downloads will be able to use its Foundation Models running in Private Cloud Compute, with no cloud API cost. 这家科技巨头表示，App Store 首次下载量少于 200 万次的开发者，将能够免费使用其在“私有云计算”（Private Cloud Compute）中运行的基础模型，无需支付云端 API 费用。

“It’s access to frontier-tier level intelligence with unparalleled privacy protections, because getting started exploring ideas shouldn’t be held back by infrastructure costs,” the presenter noted. 演讲者指出：“这是在拥有无与伦比的隐私保护前提下，获取前沿级智能的机会，因为探索创意的起步阶段不应被基础设施成本所阻碍。”

The “under 2 million” figure is another means of capturing the indie developer audience, similar to Apple’s efforts with the Small Business Program, where the company offers lower commission rates to smaller developers who are just starting to build their applications and aren’t yet earning millions. “200 万次下载”这一门槛是苹果吸引独立开发者群体的又一举措，类似于苹果的“小型企业计划”（Small Business Program）。在该计划中，苹果为那些刚开始开发应用且尚未实现百万美元营收的小型开发者提供更低的佣金费率。

Apple also noted that the Foundation Models framework is expanding this year to include image input and support for server models. That means the API can now integrate with the cloud model provider of developers’ choice, to ensure getting started with a large cloud model is as “accessible as possible,” as needed for more complex tasks, said Apple. 苹果还提到，其基础模型框架今年将进行扩展，增加对图像输入和服务器模型的支持。苹果表示，这意味着 API 现在可以与开发者选择的云模型提供商集成，从而确保在处理更复杂的任务时，使用大型云模型的过程尽可能“易于上手”。

The move reflects a growing reality in the AI industry that experimentation is no longer cheap. By waiving infrastructure fees for smaller developers, Apple is positioning its models as a lower-cost alternative for those developers who don’t want to take on additional cloud bills. 此举反映了 AI 行业日益严峻的现实：实验成本已不再低廉。通过免除小型开发者的基础设施费用，苹果将其模型定位为一种低成本替代方案，旨在吸引那些不愿承担额外云服务账单的开发者。

Small developers aren’t the only ones tightening their belts these days. Tech giants like Meta and Amazon have discontinued their internal AI token usage leaderboards, where developers once competed to burn cash by experimenting with AI tools. 如今，不仅是小型开发者在缩减开支。Meta 和亚马逊等科技巨头已经停止了内部的 AI Token 使用排行榜，此前开发者们曾通过该榜单竞相消耗资金来测试 AI 工具。

Uber, meanwhile, recently said it had run through its 2026 AI budget in just four months, news that some have taken as a need for more fiscal responsibility when it comes to AI. 与此同时，Uber 最近表示，其 2026 年的 AI 预算在短短四个月内就已耗尽。这一消息被外界解读为在 AI 投入方面需要更强的财务责任感。