In 2021, a lone Chinese consumer sued Job’s Mob, claiming that its 30 per cent App Store tax led to higher prices compared with Android. The Shanghai Intellectual Property Court, however, was not convinced.
According to The South China Morning Post it ruled that Apple’s fees were not “significantly higher” than those charged by rival app stores and there was “no evidence suggesting that the fees directly led to higher prices for consumers.

At the time, the plaintiff’s legal team said they would appeal, and that case is still grinding through the system. But one of the lawyers from that original fight is now back for another round, filing a fresh complaint against Job’s Mob under China’s shifting regulatory environment.

According to Reuters, this new lawsuit represents 55 Chinese iPhone and iPad users. It accuses Apple of maintaining a monopoly over iOS app distribution in China, while conveniently allowing alternative payment methods and app stores in Europe and the US after regulators there started breathing down its neck.

Filed with China’s State Administration for Market Regulation, the complaint says Job’s Mob forces consumers to buy digital goods only through its own In-App Purchase system, restricts app downloads exclusively to the App Store, and pockets commissions of up to 30 per cent for the privilege.

These are familiar arguments for anyone following Apple’s global regulatory woes, from Brussels to Washington, but China is relatively new. Autocratic, authoritarian, secretive and ruling over a massive, docile population with an iron rod, Apple fights court cases to the full extent of the legal system and always denies doing anything wrong.