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on september 6, bloomberg reported that apple approved wechat for use on the iphone 16, but negotiations between the two sides on app store fees are still ongoing.

people familiar with the matter revealed that on the eve of the release of iphone 16, apple has approved the wechat update for the ios ecosystem submitted by tencent this week. the latest version adds new features to wechat moments and live broadcasts.

apple approved the wechat update, dispelling market speculation that apple might ban wechat from being used on the latest iphones.

the "apple vs. wechat" dispute arose from the fact that the mini-programs on the wechat platform, which were supposed to use apple's payment system for in-app purchases, bypassed apple's payment system and the 30% commission that apple usually charges.

as we all know, apple is a closed platform, and it charges a 15%-30% commission on digital content consumption of all apps on the app store. whenever an apple user pays to download an app through the apple app store or purchases digital goods/services within the app, apple will withhold part of the transaction amount as a "toll" and then transfer the remaining funds to the corresponding app developer.

apple has recently repeatedly used the suspension of wechat updates as a bargaining chip to put pressure on tencent, asking it to plug the loopholes in the external payment system. since then, the two sides have been deadlocked and have started multiple rounds of negotiations. bloomberg reported that apple has asked tencent to block external payment service links in small games and also asked the company to completely disable the in-game messaging function, but tencent believes that this move is too harsh and rejected apple's request. the app store shows that the new version of wechat has indeed been "suspended" for two months.

people familiar with the matter said that although the negotiations have encountered resistance, tencent is still discussing potential compromises with apple for subsequent updates. as of press time, apple and tencent have not commented.

it is worth mentioning that apple released the news of approving the wechat update just before the release of iphone 16.

it is reported that apple's 2024 autumn new product launch conference will be held at 1 a.m. beijing time on september 10. the conference is expected to launch the latest iphone, watch and airpods. technical analysts at cfra research predict that the price of the iphone 16 series may rise across the board due to the addition of more artificial intelligence functions.