Apple says the App Store ecosystem in China facilitated RMB 4 trillion in billings and sales in 2025, up from nearly RMB 2 trillion in 2020. The figures come from a new study Apple published in its China newsroom on October 8, 2026, which also finds that more than 95% of that activity paid Apple no commission at all.
The study was written by Ju Heng, an associate professor at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics business school, and economist Dr. Markus von Wartburg of Analysis Group. The report is not independent of Apple. A note on its first page says Apple provided support for the study, and that the conclusions and views are the authors’ own.
For this study, “China” means the China mainland market. The report is an update to an earlier China App Store ecosystem study published in November 2024.
Don’t miss the best of The Mac Observer
Set us as a preferred source and our Apple reporting ranks higher in your Google Search results and Discover feed — one tap, no account changes.
Where the RMB 4 trillion comes from
The headline number is not App Store revenue, and it is not money Apple collects. It counts every transaction the authors estimate the App Store ecosystem helped make happen, and most of it is shopping for physical goods and services through apps.
| Category | 2025 estimate | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Physical goods and services | RMB 3.7 trillion | 91% |
| In-app advertising | RMB 212 billion | 5% |
| Digital goods and services | RMB 149 billion | 4% |
| Total | About RMB 4 trillion | 100% |
Apple does not charge a commission on sales of physical goods and services, which is why the no-commission share is so large. The study says both physical goods and in-app advertising more than doubled over the five years.
On the user side, the release says an average of 167 million people visited the China App Store each week in 2025. Apps from Chinese developers accounted for 93% of local downloads and 98% of local App Store revenue in China.
Chinese developers now earn more abroad than at home
The bigger shift is overseas. According to the study, the share of Chinese developers’ App Store revenue that came from users outside China rose from 32% in 2020 to 52% in 2025.
The report puts more detail behind that:
- The share of Chinese developers operating overseas rose from 64% in 2020 to 76% in 2025.
- Overseas downloads of apps from Chinese developers grew from 2.1 billion to 3.8 billion.
- Overseas App Store revenue for those developers rose from RMB 37.7 billion to RMB 99.4 billion, or 2.6 times the 2020 level.
- Apps from Chinese developers passed 10 billion downloads on the global App Store in 2025.
- Chinese developers had more games than developers from any other country among the 100 most downloaded App Store games worldwide in 2025.
Small developers did well too. Apple says their total revenue more than doubled between 2020 and 2025, and 75% of them do business outside China. The study notes that its definition of a small developer is broader than the rules for Apple’s Small Business Program.
Apple pointed to Kuro Games, maker of Wuthering Waves and Punishing: Gray Raven, as an example of a studio using the App Store’s reach across 175 countries and regions. The release also mentions Apple technologies such as MetalFX and ProMotion in connection with the studio’s games.
The commission cut behind the numbers
The release says that earlier this year Apple lowered the commission rate for developers selling digital goods and services on the China storefront to 25%. The study dates that change to March 2026 and says the reduced rate also fell, from 15% to 12%.
That 12% rate applies to developers in the App Store Small Business Program, which is open to new developers and those that earned no more than $1 million in App Store proceeds in the previous calendar year. Apple also cites the App Store Mini Apps Partner Program, which offers a 12% rate on qualifying in-app purchase experiences.
According to the study, most Chinese developers that did pay Apple a commission in 2025 paid the reduced rate. Apple’s standard rate in most other regions remains 30%, the report says.
What Apple said
Apple CEO John Ternus said in the China newsroom announcement that Apple believes in the strength of local talent, and that developers across China are building successful businesses with apps that shape people’s daily lives. He added that Apple is proud of what the community has achieved and committed to supporting Chinese developers as they grow.
The release also lists Apple’s developer programs in China, including the Apple Developer Center in Shanghai, which runs online and in-person sessions, and access to more than 250,000 APIs. Apple says education programs such as the Mobile Application Innovation Contest have supported more than 40,000 students from more than 1,200 higher education institutions over the past decade. In March 2025, Apple and Zhejiang University launched an Apple mobile app incubation fund for early-stage founders and students.
Why it matters
The study backs a familiar Apple message: most of the money moving through apps on the China App Store never passes through Apple’s commission. The China edition adds a second point. Chinese developers now earn more of their App Store revenue from users abroad than at home, and their total App Store revenue grew 65% from 2020 to 2025, according to the report.
The full figures are in Apple’s China newsroom announcement of the App Store ecosystem study, which links to the full report in Chinese.
