Apple today informed developers about some upcoming pricing changes for apps and in-app purchases in Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Germany, and South Korea, with Apple introducing a new VAT in some countries and adjusting pricing in others.
Apple says that when taxes or foreign exchange rates change, prices on the App Store in certain regions and some proceeds need to be adjusted. In Zimbabwe and Cameroon, proceeds will be adjusted and proceeds will be calculated based on the tax-exclusive price.
Cameroon - New value-added tax of 19.25%
Zimbabwe - New value-added tax of 14.5%
In Germany and South Korea, prices of apps and in-app purchases are increasing, but auto-renewable subscription prices will remain the same.
Germany - Value-added tax rate reversion to 19% after temporary decrease to 16%. App Store pricing will not change.
South Korea - Prices of alternative tiers for apps and in-app purchases (excluding auto-renewable subscriptions) will be adjusted to allow for additional locally relevant pricing conventions.
When the changes go into effect, the Pricing and Availability section of My Apps for developers will be updated, and app pricing can be changed any time using App Store Connect. Full pricing changes are available on Apple's site. [PDF]
Thursday January 23, 2025 6:41 am PST by Joe Rossignol
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Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.3.
Notification Summary Changes
Examples of inaccurate Apple Intelligence notification summaries
Apple Intelligence...
Friday January 24, 2025 1:55 am PST by Tim Hardwick
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While not quite as packed with new features as Apple's preceding iOS 18 point releases, iOS 18.3 still introduces capabilities that aim to make your iPhone smarter and more intuitive. Below, we've...
Friday January 24, 2025 8:16 am PST by Joe Rossignol
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Apple has previously implied that iOS 18.4 will be released in April, as that is when it promised to make Apple Intelligence available in even more languages.
Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far.
Apple Intelligence for Siri
Siri ...
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Walmart still does not accept Apple Pay or other NFC payments at its more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., and it stood firm on its reasoning for that today.
A spokesperson for Walmart today informed MacRumors that its position on contactless payments has not changed since we last reached out about the matter in 2022. The big-box retailer said it remains focused on its own convenient...
Wednesday January 22, 2025 6:01 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year. In this article, we recap rumored features and changes for the device.
The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports Wi-Fi 6E, which would be an upgrade over the current Apple TV's standard Wi-Fi 6 support. Wi-Fi 6E extends the...
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The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
Friday January 24, 2025 9:09 am PST by Juli Clover
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On social media, he said that he is expecting the size of the Dynamic Island to remain "largely unchanged" across the iPhone 17 lineup. His statement is contrary to prior rumors that we've heard about planned changes for the iPhone 17 models.
...
Saturday January 25, 2025 5:07 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple's retail stores will be rolling out "merchandise/floor marketing updates" next week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Gurman did not explicitly say if the store updates are related to any upcoming product announcements, but he did mention that next week is around the time that Apple rolls out its annual Black Unity watch band for the Apple Watch.
In each of the past four years, ...
Thursday January 23, 2025 2:48 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
It's also time for Apple's first product announcement of the year.
Last year, Apple said it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and the wireless earbuds are expected to launch very soon.
Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code
In his Power On newsletter last weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the...
Goodness! 19.25% tax on every purchase! Consumers working for the government.
Well my taxes don’t pay the government. They pay my schools, police stations, hospitals, firestations, trains, autobahns, universities so I am fine with that. Sure it could be less. But then some of that stuff would cost extra. It is what it is.
Almost makes me wish for AppleCoin; so I can prebuy into the currency used within the Apple ecosystem. Just to be on the safe side of any fluctuations. ?
Makes me wish sales tax wasn't a way to subsidize corporate income tax loopholes. The government already took my contribution when I earned the money.
Please tell me you're not actually this "uneducated".
So the government should only take taxes on services rendered by the police to pay for the police; so if you're a victim of a crime you pay "taxes" to fund their part in solving it, but if you're not a victim you don't pay taxes to the police. And you only pay taxes to build the roads that you travel on, and no other roads.
So no taxes unless you see a direct link to what you're using?
(And just to play along here I of course chose to, in your favour, completely ignore that the government is what's structuring the whole ass infrastructure that actually makes it possible to have a functioning internet in their country; things like coordinating frequencies for cellular services, and making sure it's possible to put fiber in the ground for wired connections. And so on and on and on. Making the local government very much doing plenty of things directly related to said app.)
Please tell me that you are not so full of yourself that you need to resort to personal attacks just because someone has a different opinion than you. Don't you worry about me, I am highly educated and extremely successful. I think I'll get by in life without you teaching me.
It does appear however, your swollen "educated" head has a reading disability. Where did I say "no taxes unless you see a direct link". My comment was answering your assertion that the government has something to do with App purchases. They do not, and that is 100% factually correct. I also did not say their shouldn't be any tax applied to the App store or any other purchase for that matter. I am just saying that 20% is unproportionately high to the services that money will be used for. Taxation is complex and unless I analyze all aspects of taxation for each country, its impossible to come to a complete conclusion. But in general, as I already mentioned, I believe property taxes should be the main driver of tax revenue for the services brought up and not some kid buying a game on the internet.
Your rebuttal was because the government provides nice things, they are justified to take what they want, wherever they want with out being questioned. So if they raised it to 40%, 80%, 600%. Would you have a problem with it then? If your answer is yes, then the only difference between you and me, is the rate at which it becomes a problem. I have no issue with disagreeing over rates, everyone sees things differently. But next time, check your personal attacks at the door.
Well my taxes don’t pay the government. They pay my schools, police stations, hospitals, firestations, trains, autobahns, universities so I am fine with that. Sure it could be less. But then some of that stuff would cost extra. It is what it is.
