Bea Beltran Tech 01.27.2023 23:Jan PM EST

Apple is Implementing App Store Price Changes in Several Countries

Apple announced that there will be some changes to its App Stores worldwide. A price increase in the store will be seen in countries that include South Africa, and the United Kingdom. The announcement mentioned that the app and in-app purchases increase will start on February 13th.

App Store Price Increase and Decrease

Not all countries will be affected by the price hike, and some will be subjected to price decreases. Colombia, Egypt, Hungary, Nigeria, Norway, South Africa, and the United Kingdom are among the countries where Apple will implement the increase.

On the other hand, Uzbekistan will see a price decrease due to the country's reduction of local tax. Other countries are set for a price hike as well next month such as Luxembourg, Singapore, and Zimbabwe, according to 9To5Mac.

Local developers will also experience an increase in Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, Tajikistan, Thailand, and Uzbekistan. The increase will be put into effect by the end of January.

Apple announced that it will update prices on the App Store in certain regions based on changes in taxes and foreign exchange rates. This follows the app increases that are already carried through in Japan, South Korea, and other countries in Europe.

For Ireland, the reduction of the value-added tax rate on electronic newspapers and periodicals will go from 9% to 0%.
Luxembourg's reduction of the value-added tax rate will drop from 17% to 16%.
The increase of goods and services tax rate from Singapore will increase from 7% to 8%
The value-added tax rate from Zimbabwe will increase from 14.5% to 15%.

Once the changes are put into place, developers can check the update in the Pricing and Availability section of My Apps. They will be able to change the price of their apps as well as in-app purchases including auto-renewable subscriptions in App Store Connect.

Apple's Upgrade in App Store Pricing

Apple announced the comprehensive upgrade to the App Store back in early December 2022, wherein the company is adding 700 new price points. It is said to provide developers with hundreds of new price points and new pricing tools.

It will make it easier for them to set prices depending on the App Store country or region, as well as manage foreign exchange rate changes, and more. The price points will start from $0.29 and when requested, can go as high as $10,000.

Developers are now able to manage currency and taxes across storefronts more easily. They can do this by choosing a local storefront as a basis for generating prices automatically, which applies to 174 storefronts and 44 different currencies, according to Apple.

Of course, developers can still choose to set prices on each storefront. The enhancements are simply there to manage pricing across international markets, so developers can keep their local currency constant in the storefront of their choosing, despite changes in taxes and foreign exchange.