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Purchases made on the US App Store helped Apple earn over $10 billion in commissions last year, TechCrunch reports, citing an analysis by Appfigures.
Apple earns this revenue by taking a percentage of every transaction made through its payment system on the App Store. According to Appfigures, in 2024, app developers made $33.68 billion in gross revenue and took home $23.57 billion in net revenue, leaving Apple a huge cut of approximately $10.1 billion. Around $6.27 billion of that commission came from apps, while the remaining $3.82 billion came from games.
Apple’s revenue from App Store commissions has more than doubled since 2020, the report adds. The company made approximately $4.76 billion in 2020, and $6.66 billion, $7.37 billion, and $8.75 billion in the three years that followed.
The report arrives as Apple fights to keep this income stream alive. In a landmark ruling last week, the company was ordered to allow developers to provide external payment links within apps and not take any commissions from them. The changes were effective immediately, and Apple lifted its restrictions on alternate payment methods on May 1.
However, in an emergency motion filed this week, Apple requested that the court pause changes to its App Store rules. “A federal court cannot force Apple to permanently give away free access to its products and services, including intellectual property,” Apple says in the filing, adding that the move would cost the company “hundreds of millions to billions” annually.
Another chunk of annual revenue Apple may be about to lose is the $20 billion it receives for setting Google as the default search engine on Safari. Last year, a court ruling found the practice monopolistic, and, according to Apple SVP of Services Eddy Cue, the company has already started looking at AI search alternatives.