Epic Games filed its response brief at the US Supreme Court on November 13 in Apple’s appeal of the App Store contempt ruling. The court has already set oral argument for Monday, January 11, 2027.
The ruling will decide whether US iPhone developers can keep linking to cheaper payment options outside the App Store without paying Apple a fee. If Apple wins, MacRumors says the App Store would go back to its pre-2025 rules.
Epic’s Supreme Court brief and the January argument date
The Supreme Court docket for Apple Inc. v. Epic Games, No. 25-1311, lists Epic’s brief as submitted on November 13. 9to5Mac reported that the filing asks the justices to uphold the contempt ruling. The docket also shows the court requested the case record from the Ninth Circuit on November 12.
The January 11 argument date was set on November 2. Epic’s filing answers Apple’s own brief from September, which asked the court to reverse or vacate the contempt order.
What the justices will actually decide
The court agreed to hear the case on June 30, 2026, but only on a narrow question. It will decide whether a court can hold a company in contempt for breaking the spirit of an injunction, not just its literal wording.
The justices declined to take up Apple’s broader argument that the injunction should not cover every developer. MacRumors noted that the original injunction ran to just 75 words.
How the US App Store got here
In April 2025, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found Apple in contempt. Her order barred Apple from charging any fee on purchases made through outside links in the US App Store. Apple had been charging between 12% and 27% on those purchases.
The Ninth Circuit upheld the contempt finding but said a total fee ban went too far. It sent the case back to the district court to set a reasonable fee. Apple is now arguing over that fee in district court. Whatever fee comes out of it only applies if the Supreme Court leaves the contempt order standing.
What it means for what you pay
A link-out lets an app send you to the developer’s own website to subscribe or buy, outside Apple’s payment system. With no Apple fee on those sales, developers keep more of each purchase and have room to charge less. That room is not a guarantee of lower prices. MacRumors notes that few developers have adopted link-outs so far.
If the Supreme Court sides with Apple, developers could again owe Apple a cut on purchases they link to from their apps. That would shrink the reason to offer a cheaper web option at all. Android has a parallel fight, where a judge ordered Google to fix how the Play Store hides rival app stores.
Sources: US Supreme Court docket 25-1311, MacRumors, MacRumors
