Apple says gaming slowdown and App Store changes hurt services growth
- ID
- 9246
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 31 Jul 2026, 6:37 AM
- Fetched
- 31 Jul 2026, 7:41 AM
- Provider
- TechCrunch
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/30/apple-says-gaming-slowdown-and-app-store-changes-hurt-services-growth/
- Source URL
- https://techcrunch.com/feed/
Summary
- Score
- 6.0
- Created
- 31 Jul 2026, 4:34 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- saas_foundersdevelopers
What happened
Apple's services revenue missed Wall Street estimates at $30.74B vs $31.22B expected in its fiscal Q3, despite hitting 1.5 billion subscribers (up from 1 billion in January 2025). CFO Kevan Parekh attributed the shortfall partly to App Store business model changes in the U.S. — a court order now lets developers process payments outside Apple's commission — plus a mobile gaming slowdown and FX headwinds. Apple's stock fell over 4% in after-hours trading.
Why it matters
If you ship a mobile app on iOS, the external payment option under the U.S. court order is now a real revenue lever worth evaluating — Apple itself says it's denting App Store income. The Supreme Court will make a final ruling, so the window could narrow or widen; founders should model both scenarios for their iOS monetization.
Discussion angle
Should Malaysian iOS app builders proactively set up external payment flows now, or wait for the Supreme Court decision — and what does the compliance overhead look like for a small team?