Telegram has launched a new yearly plan for its premium subscription, offering a cheaper monthly cost if you pay in a lump sum. Available in-app, the premium tier of the messaging app can now be purchased for RM127.90, which translates to RM10.49 per month for 12 months.
The yearly plan provides a savings of 35% from the monthly plan, but Telegram’s calculation comes with a caveat. Along with the new annual subscription, the company is once again upping the price of the monthly subscription to RM16.90, making the yearly package much more appealing to heavy users.
In case you don’t remember, the premium tier was introduced last June at a price of RM22.90 per month for Malaysian users. This was then lowered by the company to RM13.90 in September before increasing again by RM1 last month.
Oddly enough, the price changes, as well as the annual plan, can only be seen through the mobile app but if you try to purchase the premium subscription through the desktop app, it is still priced at the original RM22.90 per month. Telegram recently added a bunch of new features with some exclusive to premium, which could be seen as a way to soften the blow of the monthly plan’s price bump.
Those subscribed to the paid tier now have the ability to translate entire individual chats, groups, and channels in real time by tapping on the Translate bar — all users still have access to the translate feature, but regular users will need to translate each message individually. One of the new features that can be enjoyed by all is the profile picture maker, which lets you turn any sticker or animated emoji into a profile, group, or channel picture.
Other features you get with premium include exclusive stickers, no ads, audio message transcription, faster download speed, and a premium profile badge. The plan also doubles the limit of everything such as upload size, channels, folders, connected accounts, and more.
