Apple App Store continues to capture the lion’s share of mobile spending

2020 has been a record-setting year for worldwide spending on mobile apps and games, which passed US$100 billion in a single year for the first time ever in November, according to Sensor Tower. 

This trend continued on Christmas, when consumers around the globe spent an estimated $407.6 million across Apple’s App Store and Google Play, according to preliminary Store Intelligence estimates from the research group. This figure represents 34.5% year-over-year growth from approximately $303 million in 2019, and is nearly 17 points higher than the growth experienced last year when spending grew 17.7% year-over-year.

Mobile spending on Christmas comprised 4.5% of the month’s total spending so far, which reached approximately $9 billion globally from December 1 to December 27, according to Sensor Tower. The majority of the holiday spending was on mobile games, which climbed 27% from $232.4 million on Christmas 2019 to $295.6 million this year.

Sensor Tower says, as in previous years, Apple’s App Store captured the bulk of the spending between the two platforms. It saw 68.4% of the spending, or $278.6 million, up 35.2% year-over-year. Google Play saw $129 million in revenue, up more than 33% year-over-year.