Apple is looking at further ways to monetize the App Store and increase the company's recurring revenue from the platform, according to a new report.
Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that newly appointed Apple CEO John Ternus and services chief Eddy Cue are behind the effort to raise margins from the App Store, which already generates Apple an estimated $30 billion a year.
Interestingly, Gurman ties the effort to Apple Fellow Phil Schiller's decision to step away from running the App Store and work on other unspecified projects. Schiller, now 66 and edging toward retirement, "seems to believe that such moves will only irk developers and governments," he said. Based on what Gurman has heard from internal sources at the company, he added that "there was no internal blowup or anything like that, [but] it's something he wanted no part of."
Back in February 2025, as part of Apple's ongoing legal battle with Epic Games, Schiller testified that he initially opposed the 27 percent commission Apple originally wanted to charge on purchases made outside the App Store, citing compliance risks and potential developer backlash.
Schiller said in court that he had concerns that the fee would create an "antagonistic relationship" between Apple and developers, and worried about Apple becoming "some kind of collection agency" that might need to audit developers who didn't pay.
Apple has not collected fees from App Store link-outs in the U.S. since April 2025, after being found to be in contempt of court for charging 27 percent commission and ordered by a judge to stop the practice. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Apple's challenge to the contempt ruling, but hasn't yet decided it.
Meanwhile, Apple is now said to be moving responsibility for the App Store to Cue, who oversaw it until 2015, when Schiller took over. Carson Oliver, who has long been on the App Store team, will oversee its day-to-day operations.
App Store Earnings Down
Apple admitted during its July earnings call that regulatory changes have started to weigh on its Services growth. Apple reported services revenue of $30.7 billion for the June quarter, a record for the period but short of the $31.4 billion that analysts expected.
Separately, analytics firm Appfigures said in August that Apple's U.S. commission revenue from the App Store has fallen 18 percent since the start of 2026. It also found App Store revenue declining in Brazil and Japan since both countries introduced new regulations.
