Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data has revealed that users of Apple’s App Store & Google Play spent an estimated $83.5 billion globally in apps & mobile games in 2019.
This amount was 17% greater than the $71.3 billion in spending they generated during 2018.
Apple’s App Store saw user spending reach a record $54.2 billion for the year, reflecting growth of 16.3% year-over-year from $46.6 billion in 2018. The sum generated by iOS was 85% greater than the $29.3 billion spent by Google Play users during the same period, with the spending gap between the two platforms narrowing three percentage points over 2018, said the report. While the Play store’s user base spent less than their counterparts on iOS, Google’s platform revenue grew slightly more Y/Y, increasing 18.1%.
Entertainment apps represented the largest portion of App Store spending outside of Games at $3.9 billion, increasing 18.5% over 2018. Social was the highest earning category on Google Play for the year with nearly $686 million spent, up 32.4 % YoY.
