Elon Musk Says Apple's 30% App Store Fee is 'Literally 10 Times Higher Than It Should Be'
Tesla CEO Elon Musk today took to Twitter to once again criticize Apple's App Store fees, calling the cut that Apple takes from developers "definitely not ok" and likening it to a "30% tax on the internet."
He went on to say that the fee is "literally 10 times higher than it should be."
Apple takes a 30 percent cut from app developers who make over $1 million through the App Store on an annual basis, but for small developers who make less, Apple has cut its fees to 15 percent through the Small Business Developer Program.
Musk has criticized the Apple's App Store several times in the past. Back in July, for example, Musk
called out Apple for creating a walled garden and said Tesla would never do such a thing. "I think we do want to emphasize that our goal is to support the advent of sustainable energy," Musk said at the time, responding to a question about letting competitors use the Tesla charger network. "It is not to create a walled garden and use that to bludgeon our competitors which is used by some companies."
Tesla and Apple have a long history and have clashed over employee theft as Apple pushes into the electric vehicle market. Back in 2015, Musk famously called Apple the "Tesla Graveyard." "If you don't make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple," he said.
Musk at the current time is in the process of purchasing Twitter for $44 billion. Musk has claimed that he wants to make Twitter "better than ever" with new product features that will defeat spam bots and authenticate all humans. Twitter is set to become a privately held company when the acquisition is complete.
Popular Stories
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly nine months later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon.
In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis.
In his Powe...
Apple today confirmed to Reuters that it has acquired Q.ai, an Israeli startup that is working on artificial intelligence technology for audio.
Apple paid close to $2 billion for Q.ai, according to sources cited by the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone and audio brand Beats in 2014.
Q.ai has...
The calendar has turned to February, and a new report indicates that Apple's next product launch is "imminent," in the form of new MacBook Pro models.
"All signs point to an imminent launch of next-generation MacBook Pros that retain the current form factor but deliver faster chips," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on Sunday. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated...
Apple recently updated its online store with a new ordering process for Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro.
There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an...
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips alongside macOS 26.3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
"Apple's faster MacBook Pros are planned for the macOS 26.3 release cycle," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter today.
"I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated for the macOS 26.3 software cycle, which runs from...
