Apple App Store Revenue Changes: Fee Hike Looks Premature

Apple is reportedly weighing App Store revenue changes, and the one detail with a name attached to it is a possible increase to the $99 annual developer membership fee. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, relayed by 9to5Mac this week, reports that Apple leadership, described as new CEO John Ternus and services SVP Eddy Cue, wants to "raise margins and squeeze additional recurring revenue from the platform." That's the only specific change identified in the reporting. Apple hasn't announced it.

The Apple Developer Program page, which states that membership is required to submit apps to the App Store and access developer tools, still lists $99 a year with no change reflected as of this writing. Apple's Newsroom hasn't posted anything indicating otherwise either. That matters because this affects developers and organizations enrolled in the program, not everyday iPhone owners buying apps or subscriptions. If you don't publish apps, nothing about your account changes today, though developer costs can eventually shape app pricing and catalog choices down the line.

There's already internal friction attached to the idea. Phil Schiller, who has shaped App Store curation policy since 2008 according to The Meridiem, reportedly wanted no part of the plan, believing it would "further irk developers and governments," per 9to5Mac. A modest bump to that $99 fee could still draw sharp reaction from developers and regulators alike, especially given how little public justification exists for it right now.

What's confirmed, and what's just reported

Gurman's report doesn't identify a commission change, a new pricing tier, or a timeline. It names one lever: the $99-a-year membership fee.

Everything else attached to this story traces back to a single outlet, The Meridiem. It reports App Store revenue reached roughly $85 billion in 2025, with growth slowing to 8% year over year, down from double-digit growth through 2023. It also reports a broader Apple recurring revenue strategy aimed at lifting services subscription revenue from 28% to 40% of total revenue by 2028 (The Meridiem, this week). The research available here contains no corroboration of either figure from an Apple financial filing or a second outlet, so neither should drive a developer's planning on its own.

Ternus became CEO in May 2026, succeeding Tim Cook, per The Meridiem. That's context on timing, not evidence a fee change is actually coming.

What an Apple App Store developer fee increase would actually change

The Apple Developer Program fee is separate from Apple's per-transaction commission, which The Meridiem reports runs 15 to 30% depending on developer size and subscription status, a figure not independently verified here. It's also distinct from the EU-specific business terms Apple already requires developers to accept before using alternative payment processing or distribution under the Digital Markets Act (Apple Newsroom, January 2024).

Everyday iPhone users buying apps or subscriptions wouldn't see a direct change from this specific report. The fee wouldn't directly change consumer purchase prices, though any longer-term ripple into app pricing or catalog breadth would depend on how developers respond, something the current reporting doesn't establish.

A flat fee increase would land differently depending on account type:

• A solo developer or hobbyist account absorbs the full cost as a fixed expense, even if the app earns little or nothing.
• Larger publishers may be better positioned to absorb a fixed annual increase, but the reporting doesn't explain how Apple would price organizational or multi-team accounts.
• Nothing in the available reporting says whether Apple is weighing different pricing for individuals, companies, education accounts, or teams, so that distinction stays open rather than assumed.

What the $99 fee is supposed to cover

Apple could reasonably argue the fee funds account infrastructure, code-signing certificates, App Review staffing, developer tools, and fraud prevention that keep the store trustworthy. That's a plausible cost basis, but it's not something Apple has spelled out anywhere in the reporting available here.

There's a separate, legitimate business case for wanting more recurring revenue. The Meridiem reports subscription penetration on iOS sits around 35%, compared with more than 50% on competing platforms, and that free-to-play game monetization on iOS lags Android by 20% (this week). That gap could be part of the rationale behind Apple leadership pushing for faster subscription growth. What the reporting doesn't do is explain how raising the $99 enrollment fee, paid once a year regardless of app revenue, would move either of those numbers.

A fair test of whether a higher fee is justified comes down to a few unanswered questions: what the $99 actually funds today, whether those underlying costs have risen since the price last changed, and whether a higher fee would come with different pricing for individual developers, students, or smaller organizations rather than applying uniformly across the board. Gurman's reporting frames the effort around margins and recurring revenue growth, not a response to identified cost pressure, per 9to5Mac. Without answers to those questions, a fee increase reads as revenue collection rather than cost recovery. Whether Apple eventually attaches a cost explanation to any change is worth watching closely, because that's what would separate a defensible price adjustment from a pure margin play.

Why the timing raises the stakes

Apple's own ecosystem accounting frames the App Store as far bigger than its commission business. The company reports the App Store ecosystem enabled more than $1.4 trillion in global billings and sales in 2025, and that it collected no commission on over 90% of that activity (Apple/Omdia ecosystem report, December 2025). That figure doesn't prove a membership-fee increase would backfire. It does show Apple has built its public narrative around being a growth platform for developers, and pushing Apple App Store monetization harder against that backdrop is where the skepticism here comes from.

The better-documented regulatory pressure is in Europe, not the U.S. The EU's Digital Markets Act already required Apple to permit alternative payment processors and distribution methods for apps sold there (Apple Newsroom, January 2024). The Meridiem separately reports that shift has already cut into Apple's take rate in the region, though that specific consequence traces back to The Meridiem's reporting rather than an Apple disclosure and hasn't been independently confirmed here.

None of this means a $99 fee increase would trigger new litigation on its own. Any move Apple frames publicly as chasing more recurring revenue, while its own EU business terms are already under pressure, could invite scrutiny disproportionate to the dollar amount, especially with Schiller's reported internal objection already part of the public record. The Meridiem also notes that companies deriving more than 80% of their revenue from iOS should be thinking about diversification strategies regardless of how this specific fee question resolves, a broader planning point worth separating from the immediate news.

Apple App Store revenue changes: what developers should check

This report alone does not require developers to change an account, price, or App Store Connect setting. There are specific things worth watching instead of reacting to secondhand headlines.

• Check the Apple Developer Program pricing page directly. It lists $99 a year with no change noted as of this writing.
• Watch for three confirmation points, not rumors: an App Store Connect account notice, a revised Apple Developer Agreement, or an Apple Newsroom post. Any one of these would confirm a real policy change; a single-sourced report does not.
• The reporting cited here doesn't provide a proposed price, a rollout date, or an account-count estimate, so any math on Apple's expected revenue gain from this move is guesswork, not analysis.
• If Apple does announce a higher fee, confirm whether it applies to existing accounts or only new enrollments, whether it hits at your next renewal or takes effect immediately, and whether organizational, educational, or multi-team accounts carry different pricing. The Meridiem suggests developers should expect some App Store policy changes within the next six to eight months as Ternus consolidates control over strategy, though that timeline is a reported projection, not a confirmed schedule.

Don't change app pricing, renew early, or restructure a developer account based on this week's reporting. Verify the current $99 price against whatever you're actually charged at your next renewal, and wait for an official Apple notice, whether that's an App Store Connect message, a revised Developer Agreement, or a Newsroom post, before treating any of this as settled. Everyday app buyers can file this under an unconfirmed internal discussion rather than a live change to anything they're paying for today.