• Apple is increasing the prices of apps on its App Store and in-app purchases in South Africa and other countries.
• The changes will take effect on 13th February 2023 and are based on changes to local taxes and exchange rates.
• Developers are also set to receive somewhat larger commissions based on the increased pricing.

Apple has announced an increase in the prices of apps on its App Store and in-app purchases, excluding auto-renewable subscriptions, in Colombia, Egypt, Hungary, Nigeria, Norway, the United Kingdom and South Africa.

According to an update published by the tech giant, Apple adjusts prices based on changes in taxes and foreign exchange rates.

“Periodically, we update prices on the App Store in certain regions based on changes in taxes and foreign exchange rates. This is done using publicly available exchange rate information from financial data providers to help ensure prices for apps and in‑app purchases stay equalized across all storefronts,” the company wrote in a blog post.

The price increases will be in effect from 13th February 2023. Check out Apple’s updated pricing tier chart here [PDF].

Meanwhile, pricing in Ireland, Luxembourg, Singapore and Zimbabwe won’t be changing but Apple will adjust developer proceeds as follows:

• “Ireland: Reduction of value-added tax rate on electronic newspapers and periodicals from 9 percent to 0 percent,
• Luxembourg: Reduction of value-added tax rate from 17 percent to 16 percent,
• Singapore: Increase of goods and services tax rate from 7 percent to 8 percent,
• Zimbabwe: Increase of value-added tax rate from 14.5 percent to 15 percent.”

Further, Apple will increase proceeds for developers selling apps from Combadia, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, Tajikistan, Thailand, and Uzbekistan.

Last year saw Apple increase its App Store prices across Asia and Europe, as well as some South American countries.

Apple said at the time that it was increasing prices in “all territories that use Euro currency” with publications like TechCrunch indicating that the increase could have been due to the weakening of the currency against the dollar.

Nevertheless, while increasing prices will benefit developers a bit more, the price increase primarily serves to inflate Apple’s wallet and press a further burden on already burdened consumers.

[Image – Thom Bradley on Unsplash]