Apple has announced that the App store prices, i.e. of apps and in-purchases, will increase as from February 13 in Nigeria, South Africa Egypt, Hungary, Norway, Colombia and the United Kingdom. This means iPhone users will pay more for apps consumed.
According to Apple in a note to developers, the update in prices is based on changes in taxes and foreign exchange rates. The company has not disclosed the rate of increase in these countries.
Prices in Uzbekistan will however, decrease to reflect a reduction of the value-added tax rate from 15% to 12%.
Apple notes that while prices on the App Store in Ireland, Luxembourg, Singapore, and Zimbabwe won’t change, the proceeds for developers will be adjusted to reflect the following tax changes:
- Ireland: Reduction of value-added tax rate on electronic newspapers and periodicals from 9% to 0%
- Luxembourg: Reduction of value-added tax rate from 17% to 16%
- Singapore: Increase of goods and services tax rate from 7% to 8%
- Zimbabwe: Increase of value-added tax rate from 14.5% to 15%
“Additionally, by the end of January proceeds will increase for local developers selling in Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, Tajikistan, Thailand, and Uzbekistan,” Apple adds.
“Apple will estimate and remove taxes based on the tax category information you have provided before calculating commission. Exhibit B of the Paid Applications Agreement will be updated to reflect this change.”
“Once these changes go into effect, the Pricing and Availability section of My Apps will be updated. As always, you can change the price of your apps and in-app purchases (including auto-renewable subscriptions) at any time in App Store Connect. If you offer subscriptions, you can choose to preserve prices for existing subscribers.”
And as previously announced in December 2022, in spring 2023, upgraded pricing capabilities for apps and in-app purchases will provide you 700 additional price points and more flexibility to set prices per storefront, so you can manage foreign exchange rate changes independent of globally equalized prices.”
The App Store links developers of all sizes, ranging from solo creators to large multinational teams, with over 650 million weekly visitors across 175 territories with support for 44 currencies.
Apple App Store developers earned $60 billion in 2022, taking the total amount to $320 billion since its launch in 2008. 2022 was a “record” year for the App Store with 900 million subscriptions, up from 745 million subscriptions in 2021.
