On June 22, 48 small and medium-sized developers distributing iOS apps in the Chinese market jointly submitted a letter of complaint to the State Administration for Market Regulation, accusing Apple of engaging in restricted trading, differential treatment, tying arrangements, and unfairly high prices in China. They are calling for the opening of third-party app distribution, in-app third-party payment, and external payment link channels. According to the National Business Daily, the trigger was a policy implementation in the Brazilian market on June 19: after years of investigation by Brazil’s antitrust agency CADE, Apple formally reduced taxes in Brazil and opened all channels. With the EU, Japan, and Brazil all having completed “fee reduction + multi-channel opening,” Chinese developers remain restricted to a single IAP (In-App Purchase) path with no alternative channels. In March this year, Apple promised Chinese developers a “global lowest commission rate” that would be “no higher than the overall rate level in other markets.” However, compared to Brazil’s minimum core technology commission of 5%, the standard rate for Chinese enterprises is still 25%, and 12% for small businesses. The complainants believe this promise has “failed to live up to its name.”
The developers’ three demands are, in order: opening three types of channels (third-party distribution, in-app third-party payments, and external payment links); requiring Apple to fulfill its promise of the lowest commission rate; and establishing an “automatic alignment mechanism,” so that whenever Apple further reduces fees or opens channels in any overseas market in the future, the Chinese market must implement the same changes simultaneously without any transition period. One of the complainants, Tian Junwei, cited calculations stating that if the commission rates were aligned with those in the EU, Japan, and Brazil, simply opening the channels could save the Chinese market approximately 21.2 billion yuan annually. Combined with the IAP fee reduction already implemented in March this year, total savings could reach about 31 billion yuan. The attorney representing the case acknowledged the extreme difficulty of litigation. As of press time, Apple has not yet responded.