Final Cut Pro subscription model coming as Apple updates trademark

Apple is looking to move to a susbcription-based pricing model for Final Cut Pro after a trademark for the editing software was recently updated (as first reported by Patently Apple).

Final Cut Pro is currently available on Mac as a one-off $300 purchase or $199 as part of the Pro Apps bundle for education users. Free updates are included as part of this price.

The company could keep the one-off purchase fee but also offer a monthly price for users to pay for ‘renting’ the software. If they cancel this subscription, they’ll loose access to Final Cut Pro. It could also decided to drop the $300 price in favour of monthly pricing altogether.

Apple may also charge users for monthly updates, although it would seem unreasonable to do so after users have spent $300 on the editing program. This subscription fee could indicate changes coming to Final Cut Pro later this year, including an iPad app.

Previous reports suggested Final Cut Pro will come to recent iPad Pro models and receive significant feature and design updates in 2021. Big changes could see the introduction of a new pricing model, which is better for Apple to market.

We may see no changes to the way Final Cut Pro is priced and Apple may be covering themselves by adding the “software rental” term to its trademark. Please let us know what you think and if you will purchase Final Cut Pro on a subscription basis.

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Ben Ward

Senior Editor, discussing everything Apple and supporting other writers and members of Apple TLD's team of volunteers.

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