The Apple vs. Epic Games saga over App Store fees continues, as Apple hopes the Supreme Court will rule in its favor the second time around and possibly stop previous punishments from being enforced.
The Supreme Court will soon have to weigh in on Apple's fees for app-related external purchases, after the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied a request for a rehearing in March 2026.
Apple has been fighting a December 2025 decision that sought to lower its 27% fee on purchases made outside the App Store.
The company is now arguing that a reduced commission on such app-related purchases would "significantly impact Apple's business model and its ability to secure a reasonable return on its considerable investment."
This is according to a new filing, spotted on Monday by TechCrunch. The iPhone maker criticized an April 2025 decision, and the company says it was found in contempt merely for violating the spirit of a 2021 injunction.
Additionally, Apple argued that reducing fees on all purchases made via external links isn't necessary to provide "complete relief" to Epic, as not all developers link to the Epic Games Store.
In essence, the Supreme Court has been asked to pause a December 2025 ruling that says Apple can't charge a 27% fee for external purchases. The Supreme Court will also have to review whether the 2021 injunction rightfully limits Apple's fee-charging even for developers that aren't Epic Games.
It remains to be seen if the case will be heard by the Supreme Court, and if Apple will be allowed to charge a 27% fee on purchases made outside the App Store again.
Epic Games says Apple is charging junk fees
Regarding the App Store fees in question, Apple says its current model is an "engine that compensates Apple for the considerable investments it has made in the App Store, iOS, and iPhone." In essence, it argues that the fees are part of its business model and that they're justified.
Apple has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in, as part of its lawsuit with Epic Games over App Store fees.
Epic Games, meanwhile, says outright that Apple is charging developers junk fees for external purchases.
Natalie Munoz, an Epic Games spokesperson, said that Apple's filing was "another delay tactic to prevent the court from establishing significant and permanent bounds on Apple's ability to charge junk fees on third-party payments." Munoz explained that courts "have time and time again found this to be illegal."
"Epic has heard this directly from many developers in our efforts to offer Web Shops and similar features to them in competition with Apple," continued Munoz.
"As a result of Apple's tactics, only a few brave developers, including Spotify, Kindle, and Patreon, have been willing to take advantage of this right and bring benefits to consumers." Epic Games will "keep standing up to Apple's attempts to undermine competition."
The story of the Epic vs. Apple lawsuit so far
Epic Games' lawsuit with Apple dates back to 2020, when Fortnite was removed from the App Store for bypassing its in-app purchase system. Instead of paying Apple its requested 30% fee, Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, opted to direct users to its own payment website.
Apple still wants to charge fees for app-related purchases made outside the App Store.
In 2021, Apple was dealt an anti-steering injunction. It could no longer prevent developers of App Store apps from informing their users of external, and usually cheaper, payment methods and linking to them.
Apple was ultimately forced to enable external purchase links, and it did so in January 2024. However, the Apple decided to charge a 27% fee on external purchases related to App Store apps.
US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers made Apple change its App Store practices on May 1, 2025, after ruling in April 2025 that the company violated the 2021 anti-steering injunction.
As a result, Apple was forced to allow external purchase links inside apps installed via the App Store. However, it could not charge a fee for these transactions.
Apple filed appeals against this ruling in May 2025 and then again in August 2025.
In December 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Apple could charge a fee on external purchases after all, as long as it was not as high as its previous 27% commission.
At the time, Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, suggested that Apple charge tens to hundreds of dollars per app just to update to cover costs, rather than a flat rate commission. As we saw today, Epic's stance is still that App Store app developers are being charged junk fees.
Given that Apple's March 2026 request for a rehearing on the December 2025 ruling was denied, it had no choice but to turn to the Supreme Court.
While the Supreme Court's stance remains to be seen, the courts' prior decisions are still valid for the time being. Apple can still charge a fee for external purchases related to App Store apps, and developers can still link to their own payment websites, unless the Supreme Court later says otherwise.
