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Iris Deng

A group of Chinese developers has filed a complaint against Apple over its allegedly “unfair” App Store commission rates to China’s market watchdog, in a fresh challenge to the US tech giant’s lucrative smartphone ecosystem.
The 48 iOS developers claimed that Apple failed to fulfil its promise to offer the lowest commission rate to the Chinese market, according to an open letter to China’s State Administration for Market Regulation.
The developers asked the antitrust regulator to investigate and penalise Apple for allegedly “abusing the company’s market dominance” to implement “unfair and excessively high” costs on local creators, according to the letter published by one of the developers, Tian Junwei, on his WeChat blog on Monday.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
This is not the first time Apple has become a target of Chinese developers. In 2017, a Beijing law firm filed a complaint on behalf of local developers, accusing Apple of removing apps without a proper explanation and taking an excessive 30 per cent cut of in-app transactions. In 2021, a Chinese consumer sued Apple for its high iOS app store fees, but the claim was rejected by a court in Shanghai in 2024.
Apple has been facing similar scrutiny globally. Last year, two civil rights groups lodged a complaint to antitrust regulators in the European Union over Apple’s App Store policies. In July, the company was fined €500 million (US$572.2 million) for violating the EU’s Digital Markets Act. The company lodged an appeal that is still pending.

The latest complaint from China comes after Apple lowered the rates in Brazil last week to between 10 per cent and 21 per cent of the transaction, with an additional 5 per cent processing fee. However, Apple also allowed local developers to distribute their iOS apps on other app marketplaces with a 5 per cent commission. Apple made similar adjustments in Japan late last year.
In the Chinese market, the company in March cut the commission for standard in-app purchases and paid app transactions to 25 per cent, from the previous 30 per cent. Meanwhile, the commission rate for subscription renewals, as well as the rate paid by qualified developers in its Small Business and Mini Apps Partner programmes, dropped to 12 per cent from 15 per cent.
The Chinese developer group argued that Apple failed to give domestic creators options for distribution on other app marketplaces and flexible payment options, which would have driven the commission fee as low as 5 per cent.
Apple said earlier this month that its App Store ecosystem facilitated over US$1.4 trillion in developer billings and sales in 2025, with China accounting for the largest share at US$562 billion.


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The developers asked the antitrust regulator to investigate and penalise Apple for allegedly ‘abusing the company’s market dominance’


The developers asked the antitrust regulator to investigate and penalise Apple for allegedly ‘abusing the company’s market dominance’.


Apple faces fresh antitrust complaint from Chinese developers over ‘unfair’ App Store fees

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The developers asked the antitrust regulator to investigate and penalise Apple for allegedly ‘abusing the company’s market dominance’

The developers asked the antitrust regulator to investigate and penalise Apple for allegedly ‘abusing the company’s market dominance’