Elon Musk Says Apple's 30% App Store Fee is 'Literally 10 Times Higher Than It Should Be' - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Elon Musk Says Apple's 30% App Store Fee is 'Literally 10 Times Higher Than It Should Be'

Tesla CEO Elon Musk today took to Twitter to once again criticize Apple's App Store fees, calling the cut that Apple takes from developers "definitely not ok" and likening it to a "30% tax on the internet."

iOS App Store General Feature Sqaure Complement
He went on to say that the fee is "literally 10 times higher than it should be."

Apple takes a 30 percent cut from app developers who make over $1 million through the ‌App Store‌ on an annual basis, but for small developers who make less, Apple has cut its fees to 15 percent through the Small Business Developer Program.


Musk has criticized the Apple's ‌App Store‌ several times in the past. Back in July, for example, Musk called out Apple for creating a walled garden and said Tesla would never do such a thing. "I think we do want to emphasize that our goal is to support the advent of sustainable energy," Musk said at the time, responding to a question about letting competitors use the Tesla charger network. "It is not to create a walled garden and use that to bludgeon our competitors which is used by some companies."

Tesla and Apple have a long history and have clashed over employee theft as Apple pushes into the electric vehicle market. Back in 2015, Musk famously called Apple the "Tesla Graveyard." "If you don't make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple," he said.

Musk at the current time is in the process of purchasing Twitter for $44 billion. Musk has claimed that he wants to make Twitter "better than ever" with new product features that will defeat spam bots and authenticate all humans. Twitter is set to become a privately held company when the acquisition is complete.

Popular Stories

Apple AirPort Routers

Apple Dropping AirPort Utility From the App Store With iOS 27

Monday June 22, 2026 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple is planning to remove the AirPort Utility app from the App Store in the near future, according to the release notes for iOS 27 beta 2. The app is no longer fully supported in iOS 27, and Apple warns that it is not guaranteed to work. AirPort Utility will no longer be available for new downloads from the App Store. If you previously downloaded the app, you can still re-download it. When ...
iOS App Store General Feature Black

Apple Faces New App Store Complaint From Chinese Developers

Tuesday June 23, 2026 8:51 am PDT by
A group of 48 China-based iOS developers have filed an antitrust complaint against Apple with the country's market regulator over the App Store's commission rates, the South China Morning Post reports. The developers sent an open letter to China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), alleging that Apple failed to deliver on a promise to offer the lowest commission rate to the...
Apple Acquires Award Winning App Play Feature

Apple Acquires Award-Winning App 'Play'

Monday June 29, 2026 7:39 am PDT by
In February, Apple notified the European Commission that it would be acquiring certain assets from and have the right to hire certain employees from Rabbit 3 Times, the company behind the award-winning app design tool Play. The notification was published on the European Commission's website this week, following a four-month waiting period. Play was a Mac and iPhone app that allowed designers ...

Top Rated Comments

BC2009 Avatar
55 months ago
Elon Musk's car prices are higher then they should be too. I think he should sell his cars for cost. LITERALLY.

Clearly, businesses should not be allowed to make profits on the goods and services they provide. Obviously it cost nothing to produce an SDK, host the App Store, support the customers.

But you know what really is infinitely more expensive than it should be? Tesla's Full Self Driving feature. Selling a non-existent feature for $10K (or is it $12K now?) should be criminal. At least the App Store existed before Apple tried to make money on it.
Score: 134 Votes (Like | Disagree)
55 months ago
So Tesla's will support CarPlay and Android Auto? You know, to remove any walled gardens?
Score: 111 Votes (Like | Disagree)
55 months ago
Go away, Musk.
Score: 97 Votes (Like | Disagree)
55 months ago
Musk: we would never create a walled garden.

Ok can we get apple car play in a Tesla?
Score: 78 Votes (Like | Disagree)
55 months ago
People that love him here for buying twitter will not know what to do now lol
Score: 56 Votes (Like | Disagree)
55 months ago
He can’t stop lying and abusing.

It’s time to end billionaires and the power they abuse.

Nobody needs to have a billion dollars.

They should be forced to sell assets and pay taxes whenever they hit a $100 million wall.

Even $100 million is mad money and makes the ultra wealthy abusive, dishonest and very corrupt.
Score: 52 Votes (Like | Disagree)