Apple reportedly approved a new version of Tencent’s WeChat for an expected iPhone 16, but the companies continue to work out details on a possible revenue share deal and the inclusion of links to external payment services within the app’s mini games.

Bloomberg wrote Apple wants Tencent to bar local developers from using WeChat’s built-in messaging to route gamers to other payment portals to avoid paying Apple a 30 per cent fee and to disable in-game messaging, which the Chinese giant rejected.

Apple quickly approved the new version of WeChat for iOS without a revenue share arrangement after Tencent submitted the update earlier this week, the news agency stated.

On an earnings call last month, Tencent CSO James Mitchell confirmed it was holding discussions with Apple about sharing revenue from Mini Games running on iOS through in-app transactions and wanted to make it available “on terms we think are economically sustainable and that are also fair”.

Apple dropped from the top-five smartphone rankings in China in Q2 with a market share of 14 per cent, down 2 percentage points from Q2 2023.

Tencent’s Q2 results showed total gross receipts for Mini Games increased 30 per cent, with more than 140 games each exceeding CNY10 million ($1.4 million).