Apple asks Supreme Court to pause Epic mandate over App Store commissions

Apple is trying to stop remand proceedings before they begin, arguing that the contempt label and the Ninth Circuit’s universal injunction could reshape how it sets App Store commissions for linked-out purchases. The filing also frames the case as bigger than Epic, since the injunction applies to all registered developers worldwide and Apple says regulators are watching the outcome in other markets. The next concrete signal is whether the Supreme Court grants a stay before the Ninth Circuit mandate issues on May 5, 2026.

Following Apple's May 4, 2026, application, Justice Elena Kagan denied the emergency stay request on behalf of the Supreme Court on May 6, 2026. Per Reuters, the denial was issued without referral to the full bench, signaling that the high court found no immediate grounds to halt the lower court's mandate. This procedural move sends the dispute back to U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who will now oversee a remand process to determine what commission rate Apple can legally charge for transactions initiated via external links, according to reports from The Next Web.

The underlying conflict centers on Apple’s attempt to levy a 27% commission on payments made outside the App Store. In April 2025, Judge Gonzalez Rogers found Apple in civil contempt, ruling that these fees and accompanying design restrictions for external links violated the "spirit" of a 2021 anti-steering injunction. While the Ninth Circuit later suggested Apple should be allowed to charge a "reasonable" fee for its intellectual property, it upheld the core contempt finding, per MacRumors. Apple has since operated under a temporary zero-commission structure for these specific link-outs to maintain compliance during the appeal process.

Simultaneous with its emergency application, Apple filed a formal petition for a writ of certiorari on May 21, 2026, seeking a full review of whether contempt can be based on the "spirit" of an order. Epic Games filed its opposition on June 4, 2026, arguing that the injunction must apply to all developers to provide "complete relief," as cited by 9to5Mac. The Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to hear the full appeal by early July 2026, a decision that will impact $406 billion in annual U.S. App Store ecosystem billings.