Starting July 1, Google will reduce its commission from 30% to 15% on the first million dollars in revenue app developers generate through the Play Store. According to experts, this could lead to lower app costs for regular users.
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Apple made a similar change last year, when it also halved its 30% revenue cut for developers making less than $1 million a year. Such a cut could help developers more easily sustain an app business without relying on in-app purchases or other microtransactions. While the move will mostly hit developers, experts say it could also benefit everyday users in the future.
“The reduction means that future app releases on the Play Store will definitely cost a little less,” Alina Clark, co-founder of CocoDoc, told Lifewire via email. “First and foremost, this reduction will reduce developer fees, which in turn will help reduce the cost of purchasing apps through the Play Store.”
The iPhone was the best-selling tech product of the year, with a reported 195 million units sold, according to a December 2020 forecast by Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives. That compares with about 30 million sales of Samsung Galaxy phones, one of the most recognizable Android devices, last year. Given those numbers, it appears that developers creating for iOS have a much larger audience available to monetize their apps.