Tencent Holdings Ltd has reached an agreement with Apple Inc that will allow the iPhone maker to manage payments and take a 15% commission on spending within WeChat’s mini apps and mini games — effectively ending a long-running dispute in the world’s largest smartphone market.
The deal comes under a new Apple programme launched on Thursday, which will be available to all mini-app developers. To join, developers must comply with certain Apple software requirements, including features that support parental controls.
Although the 15% fee is significantly lower than Apple’s usual 30% cut, it provides Apple with a new revenue stream and eases pressure on Tencent, which runs WeChat — an all-in-one platform used daily by over a billion people in China.
Previously, Apple had pushed Tencent to block workarounds used by developers to direct users to external payment channels, bypassing Apple’s in-app purchase system.
“We have a very good relationship with Apple and have collaborated in many areas,” Tencent president Martin Lau said during a post-earnings call on Thursday. “We’ve been discussing ways to make the mini-game ecosystem more vibrant. There may be an official announcement in due time.”
The partnership marks a significant move toward smoothing Apple’s operations in China — a key market where it faces stiff competition from domestic giants like Xiaomi and Huawei. It could also pave the way for similar arrangements for digital purchases across Chinese app platforms, which operate differently from Apple’s ecosystem.
Apple’s concession comes after long negotiations, amid increasing scrutiny of the company’s policies by Chinese authorities this year. While Apple tightly controls its app ecosystem globally, its leverage in China is relatively limited, where Tencent and other major players such as ByteDance dominate online content and impose their own fee structures.
With the 15% share, Apple gains ground in the fast-growing mini-game segment. These games — operated entirely within WeChat — brought in 32.3 billion yuan (US$4.5 billion or RM18.75 billion) in social network revenue for Tencent in the September quarter.
Tencent previously disclosed in August last year that it was in talks with Apple to establish “economically sustainable” and fair terms that would allow Apple to take a share of mini-app and mini-game transactions.
Mini games have been expanding rapidly in popularity, and until now, Apple earned nothing from purchases made in these ecosystems.
Globally, Apple has gradually eased its once-standard 30% commission in certain regions and cases, allowing exceptions for subscriptions and alternative payment options — part of broader changes to its longstanding app-store policies.
