Sensor Tower: if a 15% commission was in place in 2020, Apple would have missed out on an estimated $595M, or 2.7%, and Google $587M, or 5%, in app store fees
- Apple and Google have announced changes to app store fees that impact app makers making less than $1 million per year.
Sensor Tower’s estimate puts a price on that targeted concession: the proportional reduction in 2020 fee revenue would have been larger for Google than for Apple, despite nearly comparable dollar amounts.
First-order effects
Developers with up to $1 million in annual store revenue retain a larger share of sales under Apple’s and Google’s reduced first-tier commission rates.
Apple and Google accept lower commission revenue from the eligible revenue band; Sensor Tower estimates a 15% rate in 2020 would have reduced fees by $595 million for Apple and $587 million for Google.
Second-order effects
Google’s estimated 5% fee-revenue reduction, versus Apple’s 2.7%, indicates that a common small-developer rate carries a relatively larger revenue trade-off for Google.
The matched 15% first-tier structure narrows commission-rate differentiation for smaller developers, shifting platform competition toward distribution and store access rather than the headline fee alone.
Third-order effects
Tiered commissions preserve the platforms’ standard economics on larger developers while making lower take rates a targeted response to developer pressure and scrutiny over platform fees.
If the two-store pattern endures, app-store take rates are likely to be debated less as a single universal percentage and more as a graduated pricing policy for different developer scales.
The trend: App-store gatekeepers are moving from uniform commissions toward tiered take rates that protect small developers while retaining higher rates for larger publishers.
Big news from Google: the Play Store cut is shrinking, down to 15% for a dev's first $1M in annual revenue. It follows Apple's similar App Store commission reduction, though Google's is more generous in that every dev is eligible for first $1M. https://www.theverge.com/...
It's a self-serving gambit: the far majority of developers will get this new 15% rate and thus be less inclined to fight, but the far majority of *revenue* is in apps with the 30% rate. So Google and Apple can continue to inflate prices and fleece consumers with their app taxes.
“...but why not sue the console-makers too?” Because the App Store is the key to everything else. Winning against Apple, even in the court of public opinion, will result in meaningful change across the industry https://twitter.com/...
15% on the first $1 million in revenue for all developers is a good move, and I'd argue better than Apple's new program. No need to worry about going over and losing access to the program next year, no weird disqualifications on technicalities, etc. https://techcrunch.com/...
We have people like Epic Games to thank for this. Google has announced its lowering its cut to 15% for the 1st million developers make. No need to apply for a program: https://techcrunch.com/...
You don't have to feel sorry for the few top apps that pay 30% and generate almost all of the App Store revenue. The real issue is that the *only* reason iOS is locked down for all developers and consumers is so that Apple can extract $billions from those few top apps.
Google followed on Apple and reduced fees to 15%? Nice! That should be a whole... $30 more per year of revenue for me! I'm rich! 😅 #gamedev https://www.theverge.com/...
Boosting developers success 🌟 We're reducing our service fee for the first $1m developers earn each year on Google Play ↓ https://android-developers.googleblog.c om/ ...
While we continue to see changes from Apple & Google Play, third party android app stores in China continue to implement a 50% take rate on IAP due to the power they have. This free report looks at the situation in China and how devs are pushing back: https://nikopartners.com/...
For subscriptions, Apple reduced the commission to 15% a few years ago but only with respect to revenues from a given end user after the first 12 months of a subscription. Google did the same, but from Day One. Now Google has again opted to imitate Apple and go slightly beyond. h…
Google's Play Store is matching Apple's 15 percent cut for developers — but with a big change. Instead of only applying to devs with <$1M in annual revenue, Google's fee reduction is for the first $1M in revenue for ALL developers, no matter how big. https://www.theverge.com/... …
Google says it will cut Google Play app store fees to 15% on the first million dollars a developer makes on Google's store a year starting July 1. Apple in December, cut its rate but it only applies to developers making under $1 million/year. https://www.cnbc.com/... @kifleswing