Apple has announced that App Store prices, for apps and in-app purchases, are going to rise in several countries including India, Indonesia, Brazil, Colombia, South Africa and Russia. These prices have been readjusted to include the exchange rate of local currency as well as increased taxes.
Apple told developers about the incoming App Store pricing changes and explained that when “taxes or foreign exchange rates change, we sometimes need to update prices on the App Store”. Apple added that over the next few days, the prices of apps, in-app purchases on the App Store will increase in India, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa.
Pricing is also going to be adjusted in Iceland and Albania to align with pricing used in other markets selling in US dollars with value-added tax.
These price increases do not cover auto-renewable subscriptions though so we don’t know yet if services like Apple Music or iCloud subscription will get a price readjustment as well.
In India, specifically, Apple writes that the readjustment includes an equalisation levy of 2% in addition to the existing goods and services tax of 18%. In Indonesia, there’s a new 10% tax for developers based out of Indonesia.
Apple has attached the updated price tier chart on the developer site, you can check it here. And once the changes go into effect, the pricing and availability section of My Apps will be updated and how much you (users and developers) are going to pay is going to be adjusted and calculated based on the tax-exclusive prices.
The company added that developers can change the price of apps and in-app purchases (including auto-renewable subscriptions) at any time in App Store Connect. For developers who offer subscriptions, they can choose to preserve the current prices for existing subscribers.
Apple has not yet announced when the new prices will be applicable for the users, the pricing list just mentions that the prices are applicable from October 2020.