Customers spent a massive $25.5 billion globally in the iOS App Store during the first half of 2019. That represents an increase of 13.2% compared to the same period one year ago.
While Android devices considerably outnumber iOS handsets, Apple still raked in the majority of profit. Total app spending through Google Play hit just $14.2 billion. That means that the amount generated by Apple’s App Store was around 80% greater than Google Play’s estimated gross revenue.
The App Store generated nearly 1.8x more revenue than Google’s on only about a third as many installs.
These figures come from a new report by leading app analytics platform Sensor Tower. While it’s worth noting that not all popular Android apps are available through the Google Play store (Fortnite being a big example), it’s still a reminder of a key difference between Apple and Alphabet.
Global spending on apps in the App Store and Google Play hit $39.7 billion in the first half of 2019. This marks an increase of 15.4% compared to app spending in the first half of 2018.
Top grossing apps
Tinder was the highest grossing non-game app in the first half of 2019. Across both Google Play and the App Store, it generated around $497 million in spending. Netflix came second, with $399 million globally across both stores. Netflix was previously number one, but its taking were hit by the decision to remove subscriptions from the iOS version of the app.
Games continued to be the biggest cash cow. Mobile game spending hit $29.6 billion across both stores. Even though game downloads declined 1.4% on iOS, gaming continues to be huge business for developers. Things are looking to get even better, too, with the debut of Apple Arcade in the second half of the year.
Source: Sensor Tower
