Apple to hike App Store prices in Europe, and some Asian nations from Oct 5 onwards

Apple has announced to increase in the price of the apps in the App Store across the Europe region and in some Asian countries. The price will be upscaled from October 5, and the move has been taken because of the global currencies drop against the US dollar.

The increased price will be effective on both in-app purchases and regular apps on App Store.

In an update, Apple said, "As early as October 5, 2022, prices of apps and in-app purchases (excluding auto-renewable subscriptions) on the App Store will increase in Chile, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Vietnam, and all territories that use the euro currency."

In Vietnam, these increases also reflect new regulations for Apple to collect and remit applicable taxes, being value-added tax (VAT) and corporate income tax (CIT) at 5 per cent rates, respectively.

All Euro markets will see the base 0.99 euro app pricing move to 1.19 euros next month which is a 20 per cent hike. In Japan, the hikes are more than 30 per cent.

"Your proceeds will be adjusted accordingly and will be calculated based on the tax-exclusive price," said Apple.

Once these changes go into effect, the pricing and availability section of My Apps will be updated.

"You can change the price of your apps and in-app purchases (including auto-renewable subscriptions) at any time in App Store Connect. If you offer subscriptions, you can choose to preserve prices for existing subscribers," said the company.

The App Store pricing changes come weeks after Apple raised the prices of its new iPhone 14 and Apple Watch Series 8 models in many markets outside the US, reports The Verge.