Finally, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro have arrived for the iPad Pro (and a few other models with M1 and A12 chips, but they’re clearly meant to be Pro apps). The timing is curious – less than a month before WWDC and around eight years after the iPad went Pro – but it’s a welcome announcement that finally puts the iPad Pro on par with the Mac when it comes to audio work / professional video.
But they won’t be cheap. For the first time, Apple is introducing a subscription model for Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, which will cost $4.99 per month or $49 per year after a one-month free trial. You can’t buy it outright even if you wanted to and it’s unlikely that Apple will ever offer a ‘lite’ version for a fixed price. As The Mandalorian would say, “This is the way.”
Of course, this isn’t the first time that Apple has offered a subscription to one of its products. It sells a variety of services (TV+, Music, iCloud+, etc.) as well as Apple One bundles. But it has long been said to explore hardware and software subscriptions to increase recurring sales. A Final Cut Pro subscription was referenced in a trademark filing years ago, and a hardware subscription service for the iPhone and other devices has reportedly been in the works for over a year. So it was inevitable if not obvious.
While Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro subscriptions make perfect sense on the iPad Pro, where people are less willing to spend hundreds of dollars upfront on a single app, it’s hard not to see the movement as a sign of things to come.
And you, Mac?
For now, the Mac version will remain as a one-time payment. As it stands, the Mac version of Final Cut Pro is still available for $299.99 while Logic Pro costs $199.99, but those prices seem unlikely to last. Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro’s last major update arrived in October 2021, so they should be updated, most likely to version 11 later this year or early next. And I don’t think anyone would be surprised if Apple moves to a subscription model.
Final Cut Pro on iPad will be Apple’s first app that requires a subscription, but it won’t be the last.
Apple
Based on current pricing, a subscription model for Final Cut Pro on Mac will likely cost $9.99 per month or $99 per year, while Logic Pro will likely be a bit cheaper, perhaps $6.99 per month / $69.99 per year. That might not seem like a terrible price, but consider that it’s been 10 years since Apple offered a paid update for either app. Based on the subscription terms above, someone who started using Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro in 2011 would have already paid around $1,700 for the same software which actually costs $498.98 to buy.
Admittedly, these terms are still cheaper and more user-friendly than the comparable Adobe apps, Premiere Pro and Audition, which each cost $31.49 per month non-binding, $20.99 per month on an annual basis (with cancellation equal to 50% of the remaining balance). ), or $239.88 per year. By comparison, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro look like bargains, costing around 15 cents a day to use with the option to cancel at any time.
But who says Apple’s subscription model will only apply to these apps? Apple also sells MainStage ($29.99), Motion ($49.99), Compressor ($49.99), and Remote Desktop ($79.99), and previously offered in-app purchases for GarageBand. Then there’s the iWork suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote), iMovie, Clips, Shazam, and even macOS itself. It wasn’t that long ago that Apple was charging for all of these things. With low subscription prices, Apple could make us pay forever if we want to get the most out of our devices. Instead of an initial cost of $1,199, a future MacBook Air could cost $149.99 per month with Apple One and Final Cut Pro. If not, why do you think Apple is getting into financial services?
Let’s face it: Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro are trial balloons. If people balk at the cost, this is a relatively low-risk venture, especially since users have been getting by without these apps on their tablets for years. But if they subscribe en masse – and I’m pretty sure they will – it won’t be long before everything Apple sells, from the iPhone to the apps that run on it, becomes a service. .
