Apple often imposes corresponding requirements and restrictions on applications entering the App Store under the banner of security, and applications that do not meet the requirements are often directly removed from the App Store. When Epic and Apple were involved in a lawsuit, the biggest reason was that they were dissatisfied with Apple's harsh requirements, especially the restrictions on third-party payments. Apple's 30% "toll" has also been criticized. Later, Apple was also punished in the European Union and finally compromised. But in more markets, Apple still maintains its strength and still charges high "tolls."

Nowadays, the disputes between Apple and WeChat and TikTok have also begun to attract attention from the industry. Among them, "Apple threatens to refuse to update WeChat and TikTok" has also become a hot search on Weibo. It is reported that Apple is increasing its pressure on Tencent and ByteDance. The reason is that Apple believes that there are loopholes in the WeChat and TikTok applications, which can be exploited by creators within the application to lead users to external payment systems, thereby circumventing the 30% commission that Apple usually charges.

It is reported that Apple warned Tencent and ByteDance in May and June this year respectively that unless Tencent deletes the links used by mini-game developers to accept payments outside the Apple platform and ByteDance blocks similar payment loopholes, Apple will not accept new version updates of WeChat and Douyin. Apple said that all sales of digital goods must go through its system and its review team may reject application updates that violate the policy.

As we all know, the latest quarterly data shows that Apple's iPhone sales share in the Chinese market has fallen out of the top five, and the top five are all Chinese local manufacturers. Moreover, Apple's latest quarterly financial report shows that Greater China has become the only market where Apple's revenue (including service revenue and hardware revenue) has declined. The IDC report shows that after Apple's mobile phone prices were significantly reduced, market demand has improved significantly, but sales are still facing fierce competition from local mobile phone brands. In the second quarter of this year, Apple's mobile phone shipments fell by 3.1%, and its sales ranking in the Chinese market fell out of the top five.

According to a report by market research firm Canalys, Apple's iPhone shipments fell to sixth place in the second quarter of this year, with a market share of nearly 14% down 2% year-on-year. When the statistics of the two major institutions show that Apple's share is declining, it means that the enthusiasm of Chinese consumers to buy Apple products is waning.

In the Chinese market, WeChat and TikTok both have a huge mass base and are basically rigidly needed applications. If Apple can increase the fees charged to mainstream apps even a little bit, it will bring huge service revenue to itself, because the user base of these mainstream apps is really too large. If Apple deliberately strengthens its voice in this field, it will inevitably fall out with Tencent and ByteDance. Once mainstream apps have resistance to Apple, it may be a new opportunity for domestic mobile phone manufacturers.

It is reported that Huawei will soon start charging application developers a commission of 20% for the first time on its new version of Hongmeng OS, which is lower than the 30% commission of Google and Apple. In addition, there are market rumors that Huawei is about to reach an agreement with Tencent to allow the latter's super app WeChat to run on its Hongmeng OS without charging a share of in-app revenue. In addition, Huawei has also contacted ByteDance's Douyin to try to discuss revenue sharing. However, the news has not been confirmed by Tencent and ByteDance.

However, Huawei is very determined to develop Hongmeng and it also needs the support of mainstream apps. It is reasonable for the two sides to reach a certain agreement in the future. For both parties, it is actually a win-win situation in the process of development. However, this is not good news for Apple. If Apple over-strengthens its dominance in system revenue sharing, it may have a certain period of "accidental firing" with Tencent and ByteDance.

Some people believe that "although Apple dare not directly remove WeChat and TikTok from the shelves, it can hold up the new version update and not allow them to pass the review. This is the evil of a closed platform. As long as users are not given the authority to freely install software, the platform can always hold the App to extort and collect taxes. It can ask for 30% today and 50% tomorrow. Everything is decided by the closed platform itself." This has long been an unspoken secret for Apple to earn huge returns.

It is reported that Tencent and ByteDance have recruited thousands of small game and app developers to create content for their own ecosystems on WeChat and Douyin. As these mini games became increasingly popular, developers began to make money by selling in-game items. Many people also found ways to bypass Apple's payment system to increase their meager profits. This practice is called "steering," which is to guide players away from large platform payments. This obviously makes it impossible for Apple to "take a share," so it is natural to suppress it. In order to attract users and allow developers to actually make a little money, WeChat and Douyin also chose to turn a blind eye.

It is reported that Apple discovered a large number of network links spread by some developers on WeChat and asked Tencent to restrict (close) them. Tencent also agreed to fix the vulnerability through subsequent WeChat updates. However, Apple still asked Tencent to take further measures and asked it to disable the function of creators and players chatting in the game. It is reported that this function may be used to provide alternative payment links. However, if this chat function is turned off, the effect of the game itself will be greatly reduced, which is why Tencent is unwilling to simply and rudely restrict it. In the future, the two sides may further negotiate to seek a solution.