Google’s strategy for monetizing its Gemini artificial intelligence appears to be evolving, as hints of two new, potentially higher-priced subscription options have surfaced within the company’s own software. Code dissected from the Google Photos app (v7.26) — a process often referred to as an APK teardown which examines app code for unreleased features — contains references to “AI Premium Plus” and “AI Premium Pro” plans for the Google One service.
This finding, initially reported by Android Authority based on work by AssembleDebug, suggests the company may soon offer more ways for users to access its Gemini AI capabilities, possibly at different price points and feature levels, potentially setting up a more direct comparison with rivals like OpenAI’s tiered ChatGPT offerings.
Currently, Google One offers several storage and feature plans, including Standard (free), Basic ($2/mo), and Premium ($10/mo). Access to Google’s most advanced AI model offerings, known as Gemini Advanced, is provided through the single “$20 per month AI Premium” tier. This plan also bundles 2TB of cloud storage and premium features in services like NotebookLM Plus.
Google Labs VP Mr. Josh Woodward has also confirmed that they are working on introducing an annual payment option for this existing $20 tier, which currently only bills monthly.
However, the distinct “Plus” and “Pro” naming found in the Photos app teardown — the same method that previously gave early hints about Google One Lite — suggests these are likely separate, new offerings rather than just alternative billing cycles.
Unpacking Google’s Tiered AI Strategy
What features might differentiate these potential new Plus and Pro plans remains speculative, as Google has made no official announcement. The speculation comes amidst a somewhat complex AI access picture from Google.
While the company launched Gemini 2.5 Pro initially for paying subscribers on March 25th, touting its multi-step logical verification and long-context processing abilities (Google stated at the time that “[Gemini] 2.5 Pro ships today with a 1 million token context window (2 million coming soon), with strong performance that improves over previous generations”), it quickly followed up on March 29th by making an experimental version of this same powerful model available to free users of the Gemini web app.
Google explained this rapid rollout on X, stating: “The team is sprinting, TPUs are running hot, and we want to get our most intelligent model into more people’s hands asap.”
This availability makes the value proposition for paid tiers, especially potentially more expensive ones like “Pro” (which might aim to compete with ChatGPT’s $200/month Pro tier), a key question.
Differentiation could come through guaranteed access to stable (non-experimental) models, higher usage quotas, access to larger context windows (which determine how much information the AI can process at once), priority performance, or bundling exclusive features. Recent additions to the existing $20 plan, such as Veo 2 AI video generation (albeit limited to short, 720p clips) added on April 15th, help establish the current baseline.
New tiers might offer enhanced versions of such features – perhaps longer or higher-resolution video generation. The existence of the speed-focused Gemini 2.5 Flash model, launched in preview on April 18th, also adds another variable that could be allocated differently across tiers.
Gemini Integrations and Market Pressures
These potential subscription changes are happening as Google aggressively integrates Gemini across its product suite, replacing the older Google Assistant on Android devices since mid-March (Google confirmed then, “Over the coming months, we’re upgrading more users on mobile devices from Google Assistant to Gemini; and later this year, the classic Google Assistant will no longer be accessible on most mobile devices”) and weaving AI capabilities into Workspace apps like Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Meet throughout March and April.
Features like Workspace Flows (an “agentic AI” platform designed for multi-step business automation) and tools like Gemini “Scheduled Actions” (task automation) represent further areas where Google could draw lines between free and paid access levels.
Even advanced model capabilities, like Gemini 2.5 Pro’s reported ability to interpret PDF visual layouts for precise citations, might see full implementation restricted to higher tiers, despite Google’s documentation noting limitations: “The models aren’t precise at locating text or objects in PDFs.”
Other features added over the past months include Gemini Canvas for writing/coding, Mind Maps in NotebookLM, and NotebookLM’s web-powered “Discover sources” feature.
Competition and Costs Drive Strategy
While adding features like Deep Research and customizable Gems to the free Gemini tier on March 13th, the potential shift towards more paid options reflects intense market competition and significant financial investment.
Testimony during the ongoing Google antitrust trial revealed just this week (April 22nd) that Google has been paying Samsung “enormous sums of money” monthly since January 2025 to preinstall Gemini on devices, an arrangement supplemented by ad revenue sharing. Similar deals, like one for Motorola devices, were also discussed.
This spending occurs as competitors like OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, and Perplexity AI are also vying for distribution deals with device manufacturers. The Department of Justice is actively scrutinizing these AI deals in the trial, arguing they mirror the search default agreements previously found to be anticompetitive.
DOJ lawyer David Dahlquist stated the goal is to “restore competition to these markets,” while Google counsel John Schmidtlein countered that rivals “would like handouts as well even though they are competing just fine.”
This backdrop of high-stakes competition and costly distribution deals provides strong motivation for Google to refine its subscription strategy and potentially capture revenue from users willing to pay more for advanced AI capabilities through plans like the speculated “AI Premium Plus” and “AI Premium Pro.”
