Consumer spending on the App Store totaled a record $193 million on Christmas Day 2019, representing a 16 percent increase year on year, according to a new report by Sensor Tower.
Approximately $84 million was spent on the Google Play store, representing year-on-year growth of 2.7 percent. Apple's App Store accounted for 70 percent of spending between the two platforms, which amounted to $277 million combined.
That total represented combined year-over-year growth of 11.3 percent for the two stores, which brought in $249 million combined in user spending on Christmas Day in 2018.
Sensor Tower says the increase in spending was largely due to new mobile device owners and people who received App Store gift cards, with games being the most popular purchase.
The majority of mobile spending on Christmas, approximately $210 million, was focused on the Games category, which generated 76 percent of revenue across both stores and grew about 8 percent Y/Y from $195 million. PUBG Mobile from Tencent’s TiMi studio led in-game spending with $8.5 million, up 431 percent from the $1.6 million players spent in the game on Christmas 2018.
Other apps accounted for approximately 2 percent more of all spending this Christmas compared to a year prior, bringing in an estimated $67 million. The top non-game app for overall spending on Christmas was reportedly the dating app Tinder, which brought in a gross global revenue near $2.1 million.
The App Store makes up a huge portion of Apple's services business. It currently receives a 30 percent cut of all revenue that developers earn from the App Store, with the exception of subscription apps. For apps where a customer maintains a subscription for more than a year, developers are entitled to an 85/15 split, with Apple taking a 15 percent cut rather than a 30 percent cut.
Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app.
Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action.
Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website.
Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50.
We have outlined some examples below:
Device
New Value
Old Value
iPhone 15 Pro Max
Up to $630
U ...
Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features.
Notification Summary Changes
Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines.
For...
Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr.
The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models:
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 14
iPhon...
Monday January 20, 2025 9:01 am PST by Joe Rossignol
A new iPhone SE is widely rumored to launch this year, and the device has potentially been confirmed today by known leaker Evan Blass.
In a private social media post, Blass shared an image of what appears to be source code mentioning an iPhone SE (4th Gen), which casts doubt on the alternative "iPhone 16E" name rumored for the device. However, the name in the source code could be a...
Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by Joe Rossignol
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory.
A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June.
The original AirTag was announced...
Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by Juli Clover
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...
There's way more Android devices for every Apple device sold. The Google Play revenue is pitiful compared to Apple's. I wonder if Android users have a culture of not-wanting-to-pay for apps, or if some other big factor like piracy is involved.
It’s the same reason why Google pays Apple so much money every year to keep Google search the default engine in Safari. Through the iPhone, Apple has aggregated the best customers (those with the highest propensity to spend). So iphone users by and large are more willing to spend on content.
There is also the issue of higher piracy rates on android compared to iOS, which makes app development a lot less profitable on android.
This is what people who keep proselytising the larger android user base don’t get - it’s not more market share in a vacuum that determines how profitable a platform will be, but usage share.
There's way more Android devices for every Apple device sold. The Google Play revenue is pitiful compared to Apple's. I wonder if Android users have a culture of not-wanting-to-pay for apps, or if some other big factor like piracy is involved.
China. That's the primary explanation you both seemed to overlook. For a bit of perspective: Active Android devices in China - 731 million... and that was in 2018. That's more than twice the population of the entire US.
There's way more Android devices for every Apple device sold. The Google Play revenue is pitiful compared to Apple's. I wonder if Android users have a culture of not-wanting-to-pay for apps, or if some other big factor like piracy is involved.
There are way more devices, but most of them contribute no revenue to the Play Store. The Play Store gets no revenue from the #1 Android market in the world: China. That revenue goes to Chinese companies like Tencent, Baidu, and Xiaomi.
It’s the same reason why Google pays Apple so much money every year to keep Google search the default engine in Safari... {snipped for brevity and clarity}
Not only does the Play Store not get any revenue from the largest Android market, they it also competes with the individual stores from each of the handset makers. Oh, and Amazon. Play Store doesn't get any revenue from Amazon's flavor of Android.
The reasons you guys speculated would fall waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down the list of contributing factors. China is the answer. Imagine Apple's App Store revenue without China.
Logic says iPhone should be available for free or for a ridiculously low price, cross-financed by Games and Services, providing the iOS platform to more people.
Reality however shows that iOS customers love to spend big
