Apple Decreasing App Store Prices in the UK, South Africa, and Many European Countries

Tuesday August 3, 2021 10:56 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple today told developers that it is updating App Store pricing in some countries due to taxes and changes in foreign exchange rates.

Over the course of the next few days, app and in-app purchase pricing is set to decrease in South Africa, the United Kingdom, and all territories that use the Euro currency. Pricing of auto-renewable subscriptions will not change.

Apple is increasing prices in Georgia and Tajikistan due to new value-added taxes of 18 percent, and there will be an increase in proceeds developers collect in Italy due to a change with the Digital Services Tax effective rate.

Apple says that once the changes go into effect, the Pricing and Availability section of My Apps for developers will be updated. Developers can change the price of apps and in-app purchases in ‌App Store‌ Connect at any time.

Tags: App Store, Apple Developer Program

Top Rated Comments

obamtl

28 months ago

Hopefully it is just a sign of Apple preparing to change their UK prices more broadly, fingers cross after next month’s product releases. Parity pricing between dollar and pound made sense when the pound was closer to $1.2/£ after the 20% VAT, but given than the pound has steadily been closer to $1.4/£ for ages, it feels like we’re being ripped off in the UK.

Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

JUiCEJamie

Changing prices in the UK? Will this mean that pricing parity for $999/£999 on a MBA etc; will change too? Hopefully, but I doubt it.

Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

DaveMcM76

I think you have to bear in mind that you can't really do a direct comparison of US / UK prices as UK price is inclusive of tax (VAT) where the US price isn't as taxes can vary massively by state (and even county and city I think) so get added on at checkout based on delivery address(?).

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

mariusfanu

It’s about App Store (aka applications) not Apple Store

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

steve62388

Well…. Now I know.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-hikes-u-k-app-store-prices-by-at-least-25-percent-due-to-weak-pound.2027984/page-3?post=24202386#post-24202386

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

foobarbaz

I wonder if Apple might also be feeling a bit of anti-competitive pressure about its App Store.

Nope, not at all. They're still taking the same percentage. 70%-85% of that price decrease comes out of the developer's pocket, if you will.

In reality, this is just reflecting changes in exchange rates to keep pricing tiers consistent.
Essentially, Apple and developers should earn roughly the same from a $0.99 app no matter where in the world it's sold. Since exchange rates fluctuate, that means prices have to change.

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