Although a recent report indicated that Apple is spending about $30 million a month for Amazon’s cloud services, new information indicates that’s a considerable reduction from the past.
This is a result of Apple’s growing collection of data centers around the world.
While Apple spent $370 million on Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2018, that’s down from $775 million in the previous year, a year-over-year decrease of 52%, according to The Information.
A list of every Apple service that’s hosted by AWS isn’t publicly available, but iCloud storage is thought to be one. Apple TV+ might depend on it as well, after this streaming video service launches in the fall.
Not just about money
Apple has long depended on Amazon and Google for online storage of customer’s pictures and other files, but the iPhone maker is building up its own infrastructure. The company recently announced it plans to invest $10 billion in US data centers over the next five years.
One of the reasons Apple wants to decrease the outsourcing of online storage is to ensure the data is being stored safely. A fire several years ago at a Google data center revealed that the company was sometimes storing backups in the same facility, not separate ones as it had agreed to, according to The Information.
Still, the earlier report about Apple’s use of Amazon’s cloud services indicated that this company isn’t going to end its dependence on AWS any time soon. The two reportedly signed a contract that will see Apple paying at least $1.5 billion for AWS services over the next five years.
