Apple has agreed to cut its App Store commission in Taiwan from 30% to 26%, Yuphora reported, with the new rate taking effect October 31, 2026 on paid apps and in-app purchases across the iOS and iPadOS storefronts. The notice, posted to Apple's developer site on October 29, says the change follows discussions with Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission — "constructive discussions," in Apple's own telling, given in a statement to MacRumors and 9to5Mac.
Taiwan's regulator has accepted the offer and suspended its investigation under Article 28 of the Fair Trade Act, which lets an inquiry stop when a company commits to fix the concern, per a report in the Economic Daily News. But the commission says it will keep monitoring compliance and can reopen the case if Apple backs out or the facts change. The threat is still on the table; it's just no longer active.
This is the latest domino in Apple's country-by-country retreat from a rate it once defended as sacrosanct. The company already charges 26% in Japan and the European Union, negotiated down to 25% in China, and just absorbed a $48 million South Korean fine that also ordered outside payment links. But Taiwan's version is conspicuously narrow: 9to5Mac notes the changes are considerably more limited than what other markets won. Apple's notice covers only the standard rate — nothing about the Small Business Program's 15%, nothing about subscriptions past their first year, and crucially, nothing about links to payment systems outside Apple's own. The price fell four points. The rules didn't move.
Don't expect cheaper apps, either. A developer's cut of every NT$100 rises from NT$70 to NT$74 — about 5.7% more income on the same price — and nothing in the notice or the commission's statement requires any of it to be passed along. Developers set prices from Apple's tiers, and the rational move is to keep prices where they are and bank the difference. The cut needs no paperwork and arrives automatically.
The pattern is the real story. A year ago Apple was fighting regulators in court over the structure of the App Store itself; now it's settling market by market, shaving points off the rate while keeping the plumbing that matters most — its own payment system, no outside links, and the storefront rules untouched. Taiwan got four points and a monitor. South Korea got a fine and outside payment links. The direction is one-way, but the gap between what different regulators extract is widening fast, and that inconsistency is becoming its own kind of pressure.
The next marker is Apple's translated license agreement, due by the end of November. It will show whether the 26% reaches the smaller programs the notice is currently silent on — and whether the commission's monitoring produces anything more than the four points it has already won.
— via Yuphora