Apple is exploring other 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, BloombergMark Gurman said Apple’s new CEO John Ternus and services chief Eddy Cue are behind efforts to increase margins in the App Store, which already generates about $30 billion a year for Apple.
Interestingly, Gurman associates this effort with Apple staffer Phil Schiller’s decision to step away from running the App Store and work on other, unspecified projects. Schiller, now 66 and nearing retirement, “seems to believe that such decisions will only irritate developers and governments,” he said. Based on what Gurman heard from sources inside the company, he added that “there was no internal explosion or anything like that, (but) it was something he wanted no part of.”
In February 2025, as part of the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Epic Games, Schiller said he initially objected to the 27% commission Apple initially wanted to charge on purchases made outside of the App Store, citing compliance risks and potential developer backlash.
Schiller said in court that he feared the fees would create an “antagonistic relationship” between Apple and developers, and that he feared Apple would become “a sort of collection agency” that might need to audit developers who haven’t paid.
Apple has not charged fees for links to the App Store in the United States since April 2025, after it was found in contempt of court for charging 27% commission and ordered by a judge to end the practice. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Apple’s challenge to the contempt ruling, but has not yet ruled.
Apple would now hand responsibility for the App Store to Cue, who oversaw it until 2015, when Schiller took over. Carson Oliver, a long-time member of the App Store team, will oversee its day-to-day operations.
App Store profits down
Apple admitted during the July earnings conference call that regulatory changes had started to weigh on the growth of its services. Apple reported services revenue of $30.7 billion for the June quarter, a record for the period but below the $31.4 billion expected by analysts.
Separately, analytics firm Appfigures said in August that Apple’s U.S. App Store fee revenue had fallen 18% since the start of 2026. It also saw declines in App Store revenue in Brazil and Japan since the two countries introduced new regulations.
