Sources: Huawei is considering taking a cut of in-app purchases on HarmonyOS and has discussed a ~20% fee with game developers, below Apple's and Google's 30%
- Chinese firm is looking at a lower fee structure than Apple — Huawei's profit surged 564% as it reclaimed premium share
Context & Ripple Effects
Huawei’s effort to establish HarmonyOS as a credible alternative to iOS and Android makes developer economics strategically important; related coverage described the platform’s growing position in China in Huawei’s push to build HarmonyOS into a mobile-platform rival.
The proposed approach is also a marked change from Huawei’s earlier clash with Tencent, when its app-store revenue-sharing demands led to a brief removal and reinstatement of Tencent games. Follow-on reporting says Huawei was nearing a Tencent arrangement that would exclude WeChat from revenue sharing, underscoring that terms may vary by developer and app category.
First-order effects
- Game developers negotiating for HarmonyOS distribution gain a potential fee benchmark below the standard Apple and Google commission cited in the report.
- Huawei would begin defining the commercial rules for HarmonyOS in-app purchases, while preserving room for bespoke terms with strategically important developers such as Tencent.
Second-order effects
- A lower published take rate could make HarmonyOS more attractive to game publishers deciding where to invest distribution and payment-integration work, though exemptions would make effective pricing less uniform.
- Apple and Google face another comparison point in China as platform fees receive greater attention; later coverage of scrutiny of Apple’s App Store fee policies adds regulatory relevance to those comparisons.
Third-order effects
- If Huawei combines a lower baseline commission with selective developer deals, mobile-platform competition could shift from device share alone toward differentiated access and monetization terms.
- The episode fits a broader pressure on app-store take rates: large developers have more bargaining leverage, while regulators and rival platforms increasingly make fixed commission schedules harder to sustain.
The trend: Mobile platforms are using lower or negotiated app-store commissions to attract developer ecosystems and challenge established distribution gatekeepers.