Apple's request to delay implementing new App Store rules has been denied by the Supreme Court, in the company's latest setback in its fight with Epic Games.
The new decision is the latest defeat for Apple that has resulted from the 2020 lawsuit against Epic. Apple won the great majority of that case, yet it is still embroiled in legal battles over it.
On Monday, May 4, 2026, Apple asked the Supreme Court for a stay on a mandate that saw it required to meet with Epic Games in court to negotiate a new commission rate. According to Reuters, that request has now been denied by Justice Elena Kagan.
Previously, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that Apple was in contempt of the rules enforced on it to tend the firm's anti-steering practices. As a result, since April 2025, Apple has been forced to take no commission on these external purchases.
The Supreme Court has now upheld the lower court's ruling. But that original 9th Circuit ruling was amended in December 2025 to allow Apple to argue what commission it ought to charge.
So for now, Apple will continue to take zero money when iPhone users purchase certain extra features by linking out of the App Store to developers' sites.
Apple vs Epic continues. Image source: Epic Games
Apple had hoped to have this element of the case paused while it prepared an appeal against the overall ruling about App Store commissions on external purchases. The company had argued that:
A stay is now needed before Apple is forced to litigate its commission rate under an erroneous and prejudicial contempt label— in proceedings that could reshape the global app market— before this Court can consider whether to grant review.
Consequently, what happens next includes Apple ultimately bringing its appeal over the commissions to the District Courts. At the same time, it will presumably have to negotiate with Epic Games in court.
How Apple got here
It's now six years since Epic Games chose to make Apple throw its "Fortnite" game off the App Store and so begin a long legal battle. Despite the fact that Apple won that battle overall, there was a single count in the case that went in Epic's favor.
That was concerning how Apple then prevented app developers from directing users to alternative ways to pay, such as through special offers on their website. Apple was ordered to change this, and would claim that it did.
However, Epic Games has argued that Apple has flouted the spirit of the law. In April 2025, Judge Gonzalez Rogers agreed, and called Apple's moves a "gross miscalculation" of what the court would accept.
