Apple announced major price hikes for in-app purchases on App Store in multiple countries across Asia and Europe, starting October 5. The company said new prices will affect consumers in Chile, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Vietnam, and all territories that use Euro.
While the firm didn’t specify the reason behind this, it is likely to counter weak local currencies against the dollar. The percentage hike varies across regions. For example, prices in South Korea have been hiked by 20% to 25%; in Japan, they have been raised by 30% to 35%; and in regions that use Euro, the hike is around 8% to 10%. This may vary based on different tiers, though.
In Vietnam, Apple’s new price also includes remit applicable taxes, being value-added tax (VAT) and corporate income tax (CIT) at 5% rates, respectively.
This announcement comes a week after a report from analytics company Apptopia, which noted that developers have raised App Store prices by 40% year-on-year, citing Apple’s anti-tracking measures as a likely reason.
Image Credits: Apptopia
In August 2021, Apple increased the in-app purchase price for users in South Africa, the U.K., and all regions using Euro. So effectively it’s the second raise in two years for many European users.
Apple noted that once these changes are rolled out, developers will see new prices in the My Apps app section.
The company registered a record $19.6 billion service revenue in Q2 2022 — which includes App Store earnings — with a 12% year-on-year increase. However, it fell marginally short of analyst expectations of $19.7 billion.
On the other hand, local rules — like the ones in South Korea and Japan — might force Apple to let go of some revenue by taking a discounted cut from developers when they use alternative payment systems.
To earn more revenue from the App Store, the company is expanding ads to appear in more places in the App Store like the Today homepage and individual app pages.