Apple’s proposed Apple App Store commission structure for purchases made through external links landed in the U.S. District Court of Northern California on Thursday, after the Supreme Court refused to let the company stall any longer. The figures Apple put forward represent a sharp retreat from its previous levy, but Epic Games was unimpressed within hours.
The filing sets a standard rate of 15% on payments processed via external links inside iOS apps. Developers enrolled in Apple’s small business programme would pay 5%, while participants in the Video Partner Programme, News Partner Programme, and Mini Apps Partner Programme would face a 10% rate. Subscription renewals would also attract 10%.
How the Apple App Store Commission Compares to What Came Before
The new rates are a material reduction from the 27% commission Apple had previously imposed on sales made through external payment links, a fee that, for small business developers in the iOS Small Business Programme, sat at 12%. Epic argued those earlier rates were ‘essentially the same’ as Apple’s standard in-app purchase commission and rendered external links ‘commercially unusable.’
Apple’s defence of the new structure leaned on a comparison with Google. Google Play charges 20% for standard apps using link-out payments, 15% for apps in special programmes, and 10% on subscription renewals. Apple noted that Epic Games had agreed to those Google rates, an implicit suggestion that its own revised fees occupy reasonable competitive ground.
The company’s broader position has not changed: it argues it is entitled to charge fees on in-app purchases made by users of its devices as a way to recoup the cost of the tools, technology, and services that underpin the App Store and iOS software platform.
The Legal Road That Led to Thursday’s Filing
The backstory to this filing stretches back years. In April 2025, the U.S. District Court found that Apple had ‘wilfully’ violated its 2021 injunction and imposed a permanent injunction barring Apple from charging any commission on purchases completed outside an app. A subsequent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals modified that position, permitting Apple to charge a fee covering its legitimate costs and intellectual property value for enabling external payment options, stopping short of the lower court’s outright prohibition.
Apple then pushed to pause further lower court action, arguing the proceedings should wait until the Supreme Court resolved a separate but related contempt question. The Supreme Court docket shows the case, Apple Inc. v. Epic Games, Inc., No. 25-1311, with a petition for certiorari filed on 11 December 2025 and rehearing denied on 30 March 2026. The Court granted certiorari on 30 June 2026 to address whether the district court lawfully held Apple in civil contempt.
Apple’s bid to buy more time hit another wall on 12 August 2026, when Justice Kagan granted a 24-hour administrative stay, pausing proceedings until 5:00 p.m. Washington time on Thursday to give the full Court time to consider a longer-term stop. That request was then rejected, and the Ninth Circuit had already denied an emergency stay of Judge Rogers’ order on 4 June 2025. With every avenue exhausted, Apple filed its commission proposal.
Epic’s response arrived quickly. The games company said it believes the proposed fees are ‘far outside of the bounds’ of the court’s guidance on permissible charges. It also pointed to an admission from Apple: under the Ninth Circuit’s definition of ‘necessary costs,’ Apple acknowledged it would charge 0% for purchases completed via linkouts to the web, a detail that cuts against Apple’s justification for any positive rate on external transactions.
Epic now has 60 days to analyse the proposal and submit its own filing with the court, meaning a response is expected by mid-October. The outcome of that exchange will shape whether the App Store commission structure Apple presented on Thursday survives, is revised under court pressure, or is rejected outright, and with the Supreme Court’s contempt question still live, the litigation has plenty of runway left.
