Source: Photo.com
On May 11, Apple's financial report data showed that its total revenue in fiscal year 2023 reached a staggering $383.3 billion. Among them, the service business contributed 85.2 billion US dollars, accounting for 22%. It is worth noting that compared with the 36.5% gross profit margin of hardware products such as iPhones and iPads, the gross profit margin of the service business is as high as 70.8%, which is almost twice that of hardware products.
However, behind the high gross profit margin of the service business is the so-called "Apple tax" that Apple charges worldwide. In the Chinese market, this tax rate is particularly interesting. At present, China is the only country among Apple's top three revenue sources that does not have a specific preferential rate for "Apple Tax". Specifically, Apple's tax rate for "standard enterprises" in China is 30%, and the tax rate for small businesses is 15%.
In contrast, other regions have relatively low tax rates. For example, the two tariff-adjusted figures for the United States are 27% and 12%, respectively, the European Union is 17% and 10%, and South Korea is 26% and 11%. These figures are all lower than China's charging standards, sparking controversy over whether Apple is "overcharging" in the Chinese market.
Musk once tweeted: "Apple's App Store commission is like imposing a 30% tax on the Internet, which is 10 times the normal level that should have been, which is obviously not okay." ”
China's app store competitive landscape
At present, there are four major factions in the domestic app store, which belong to the official app store and the third-party app store. Among them, the official app stores are the operating system app stores dominated by Apple and Google, as well as the mobile phone manufacturers developed by Huawei, Xiaomi and other mobile phone manufacturers. Third-party app stores are composed of Internet app stores led by Internet companies such as Tencent, Baidu, and 360, as well as telecom operator app stores developed by telecom operators.
Among them, Apple occupies all the app store markets of the domestic IOS system by virtue of the exclusive advantage of IOS; In the Android camp, App Treasure (Tencent's app store) ranks in the first echelon, followed by Huawei App Market, Xiaomi App Store, OPPO Software Store, and vivo App Store, and 360 Mobile Phone Assistant, Baidu Mobile Assistant, PP Assistant, MM App Store and other app stores are the third echelon. However, as mobile phone manufacturers gradually occupy the channel traffic port, the market share of third-party app stores is gradually decreasing, and the future app store industry will gradually become a competition between major mobile phone manufacturers.
The number of third-party app store users continues to grow
In recent years, third-party app stores, as the main app distribution channel in China, have developed steadily, and data shows that the active users of third-party app stores have been growing, but the growth rate has gradually slowed down. In 2020, the number of active users of third-party app stores in mainland China was about 481 million, with a growth rate of 0.8%.
In 2020, app store consumer spend exceeded $50 billion
With the increasing number of mobile terminal users in mainland China, the demand for applications continues to rise, and mainland app store users are becoming more and more active. At the same time, more consumers are willing to pay for apps, driving app store consumer spending to grow.
According to App Annie data, the scale of consumer spending in mainland app stores has been expanding in recent years, with consumer spending in mainland app stores reaching US$30.2 billion in 2017. By 2020, mainland app store consumer spending reached US$51.9 billion, accounting for nearly 40% of global app store consumer spending.
Note: The data for 2016 and 2018 are approximate values, and there may be slight deviations from the actual data.
Liang Zhenpeng, a senior industrial economic observer, believes that to solve the chaos of mobile phone stores, in addition to plugging loopholes at the legal level, it is also necessary to guide and establish a more transparent and orderly market environment.
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For more research and analysis of this industry, please refer to the "China App Store Industry Market Prospect and Investment Strategic Planning Analysis Report" by Qianzhan Industry Research Institute
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