(Yicai) Nov. 20 -- Apple said its App Store ecosystem in China generated CNY3.76 trillion (USD519.2 billion) in developer billings and sales last year, with developers keeping over 95 percent of the revenue without paying commissions to the US tech giant.

The revenue generated by developers on the App Store in China surged from CNY1.65 trillion in 2019, Apple announced on its local website yesterday, citing a report by Ju Heng, associate professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics' Business School. The firm had never before disclosed related figures.

More than half of developers who paid commissions last year benefited from a reduced 15 percent rate, with the App Store never charging commissions on in-app advertising revenue, unlike many Chinese app marketplaces, according to the report. Large game developers' effective commission rate was on average below 20 percent last year.

Apple has pressured companies, including tech giant Tencent Holdings and Tiktok's Chinese owner ByteDance, to address external payment loopholes in their apps. It warned Tencent that it would reject future updates to its messaging app WeChat if the Shenzhen-based firm did not remove the ability of developers and users to bypass Apple's ecosystem.

Neither Apple nor Tencent has responded.

App Store's uniform commission structure has maintained its 30 percent rate since its inception, the report said. Different charging policies in the US, South Korea, and the European Union result from local regulatory requirements.

The Apple tax, the company's commission on digital content purchases through the App Store, has sparked global controversy recently. The firm received around USD22.3 billion in commissions last year, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

Since 2021, developers in the US, South Korea, Japan, and other regions have sought to avoid or reduce fees on the App Store, with some jurisdictions using antitrust investigations to challenge Apple's commission structure, Sensor Tower pointed out.

Editor: Martin Kadiev