Apple weighs App Store fee hikes and review cuts to boost revenue

Apple is reportedly considering changes to its App Store to increase revenue and profit margins, driven by new CEO John Ternus and services executive Eddy Cue. This effort reportedly contributed to longtime executive Phil Schiller's departure last week, as he opposed moves that could anger developers and governments. The potential changes could include eliminating costly manual app reviews, raising the $99 annual developer membership fee, or charging large developers subscription fees based on traffic. These ideas stem from a push to extract more recurring revenue from the platform, though specific plans remain unclear. No internal conflict occurred, but Schiller declined to participate in the initiative. The report suggests Apple may leverage current developer spending on AI tools like Codex and Claude to justify higher fees, though the final outcome remains uncertain.