Apple App Store Well Ahead of Play Store—But Google is Catching Up Fast

Revenue from in-app purchases and subscriptions continues to climb, new data shows.

Non-gaming revenue grew 56 per cent year-over-year in the second quarter, according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data.

Total consumer spending in non-game apps totaled $2.4 billion during the quarter. Apple App Store revenue grew 52 per cent to $1.9 billion, while Google Play revenue growth grew 72 per cent to $500 million.

q2-2017-app-download-growth
Google is closing the gap.

More than 13 billion non-game apps were downloaded during that time, according to Sensor Tower’s report, up 12 per cent. Nearly five billion of those downloads occurred on the App Store, while more than eight billion occurred on Google Play.

q2-2017-app-revenue-growth
The Play Store is playing catch up.

This means that Apple is not only generating significantly more revenue from apps overall, but the company is also earning more on a per-app basis. However, Google’s ecosystem is now outpacing Apple’s in terms of both downloads and revenue growth, so the gap may close with time.

Editor's Recommendations

Transformers

Making Banking Invisible: Citi Head of Digital Driss Temsamani

Vanguards

Raquel Urtasun is Taking Self-Driving Tech in a New Direction

Spotlight

Building Joy into Security UX: Three Insights with 1Password CXO Matt Davey