iPhone users spent almost $25 billion in the App Store during Q1 2024, according to a market research firm. In contrast, Android uses spent only $11 billion on Google Play in the same time period.
This despite the number of downloads from Google Play more than tripling App Store downloads. Clearly, a great many Android users aren’t willing to pay for apps.
iPhone users pay for apps, unlike Android users
It’s a truism but nevertheless worth pointing out that software developers need to make money from their products to be commercially successful. There’s little point in developing an application if people aren’t willing to buy it. “For the fun of it” doesn’t pay the rent.
And that’s the situation Android devs face. The 25.5 billion downloads from the App Store in the first quarter of the year only turned into $11.2 billion in revenue, according to data from Sensor Tower.
In contrast, the 8.4 billion downloads from the iOS App Store turned into $24.6 billion in revenue. That’s more than double the revenue.
And the App Store is growing faster than its rival. Its revenue increased 11.5% year over year, while Google Play revenue went up 5.3%.
“iOS has seen steady, albeit modest, positive download growth in recent years. Q1 2024 downloads approached 8.4 billion on the platform, the best total since Q2 2020,” said Sensor Tower’s report. “Google Play, on the other hand, had yet another decline in Q1 2024 at -5.2% YoY.”
Chart: Sensor Tower
It’s not all fun and games
Games continue to be the most popular category of apps for phone users to spend their money on. iPhone users poured $13.0 billion into gaming in Q1, compared to $11.6 billion for all other types of software. That’s 53% of the total. The percentage is even higher for Android: 65%.
It should surprise no one that the United States accounts for most of the money going to developers. With iOS and Android combined, the U.S. total in Q1 2024 was $12.4 billion, up 16% year over year. China is in second place with $6 billion, followed by Japan ($4.1B), S. Korea ($1.6B), and the U.K. ($1.1B). The massive revenue generated reflects the continued dominance of the app store download ecosystem in driving digital sales worldwide.
