Apple’s long-running courtroom war with Epic Games hit another wall on Wednesday after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to temporarily halt a ruling that found the tech giant in contempt over its handling of App Store payment rules.
The decision keeps Apple on a collision course with a federal judge in California who has been scrutinizing whether the company complied with earlier court orders aimed at loosening its grip over in-app payments on iPhones and iPads.
At the center of the dispute is Apple’s response to a 2021 injunction that forced it to let app developers direct users toward alternative payment methods outside the App Store ecosystem. While Apple technically allowed those links, Epic argued the company rebuilt the same toll booth under a different name.
Apple introduced new conditions tied to outside payments, including a 27% commission on purchases made after users clicked external payment links. Developers already pay up to 30% for transactions processed directly through Apple’s App Store.
Epic claimed the revised structure mocked the spirit of the injunction rather than honoring it.
A federal judge agreed last year, ruling Apple had violated the order and holding the company in civil contempt. Apple later appealed, but the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit largely backed the contempt ruling while allowing additional arguments over what fees Apple can legally impose on third-party payment systems.
Apple then turned to the Supreme Court, hoping to pause the lower court proceedings while continuing its broader legal challenge. The justices refused.
That means the case now heads back to U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, where the next phase could shape how Apple charges developers for digital purchases made outside its own payment network.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney celebrated the setback for Apple, saying the Supreme Court found the company’s request for delay unconvincing.
The fight traces back to 2020, when Epic sued Apple after “Fortnite” was removed from the App Store. Epic accused Apple of monopolistic control over app distribution and payments on iOS devices. Although Apple avoided most of Epic’s antitrust claims, the court still imposed restrictions designed to open cracks in the App Store’s closed ecosystem.
Now, the financial mechanics behind those cracks are becoming the next battleground.
Epic wants Apple to disclose the actual costs of reviewing apps that rely on competing payment systems, arguing developers should only be charged for legitimate operational expenses rather than what it views as punitive commissions.
Apple, meanwhile, maintains it never violated the injunction and argues the ruling could reshape digital commerce far beyond Epic itself. The company has warned that regulators worldwide are closely watching the case as governments increasingly challenge the economics of dominant app marketplaces.
For now, Apple remains stuck in the legal arena it tried to avoid — with the courts still deciding how much control it can keep over the billions flowing through the App Store.
