Apple is taking its fight over in-app payment fees back to the Supreme Court, challenging a lower court ruling that found its external payment fee policy in contempt of court.
On April 3, Apple filed a petition with the Supreme Court to stay the appellate court’s decision stemming from its long-running legal battle with Epic Games.
The dispute traces back to 2020, when Epic Games introduced its own payment system inside Fortnite. Apple responded by pulling the game from the App Store. Epic Games fired back with an antitrust lawsuit, and both the district and appellate courts ruled that Apple could not block developers from linking to external payment options within their apps.
The Supreme Court effectively upheld those rulings in 2024 by declining to hear appeals from either side. Apple then said it would allow external payments but tack on a 27% fee — just three points below its standard 30% cut. Epic Games argued the move was a workaround that violated the spirit of the court’s order.
A California court agreed, finding Apple in contempt and ordering it to stop charging any fees on external payments. The appellate court upheld the contempt finding but stopped short of a full fee ban, calling it a potential overreach. It ordered a reassessment of the fee structure and directed Apple to extend the external payment option to all developers — not just Epic Games — with consistent terms across the board.
Apple pushed back on that ruling, filing its Supreme Court appeal on April 3.
The development comes as Google moved in the opposite direction. On April 4, Google announced it would cut Android app payment fees from 30% to as low as 15% and reduce subscription fees to 10%. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney called the move a win for developers, saying Google had opened its platform and created better conditions across the board.
