Apple has managed to regain a sliver of territory in its protracted legal war

Apple has managed to regain a sliver of territory in its protracted legal war with Epic Games—a battle with implications that could ripple across the entire developer ecosystem . Today, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals largely sustained a prior contempt ruling concerning the fees Apple imposes on alternative payment methods . There was, however, a notable victory for the iPhone maker: the judges reversed a mandate that effectively barred Apple from collecting commissions on those external transactions, validating one of the company’s central defenses .

#image_title

To provide some background, U.S. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers originally decreed in 2021 that Apple must open its walled garden to third-party payment options, though she stopped short of labeling the App Store a monopoly . Fast forward to May 2025, and she ruled that Apple’s imposition of a 27 percent commission on these outside payments was a violation of her earlier order. That decision prompted Apple to file an emergency motion to appeal .

Throughout this litigation, Epic Games had pulled its flagship title, Fortnite, from both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store . The game eventually made its return to iOS earlier this spring and, marking the latest development, officially arrived back on Android devices today .