New data shows that in the third quarter of 2018, Apple’s App Store came out on top in a big way, earning nearly 93 percent more app revenue than Google Play.
According to a new app data report from Sensor Tower Store Intelligence, global consumer mobile apps spending on the App Store and Google Play came to $18.2 billion during the third quarter of 2018, a 22.7 percent increase from one year ago.
The numbers also showed that approximately 66 percent of that app downloads revenue came from Apple’s App Store, with the store making $12 billion in the quarter on Apple apps, a 23.3 percent increase from the $9.7 billion it made during the same period last year. For its part, Google Play earned $6.2 billion in the quarter on Google apps, a 21.5 percent boost from the year-ago quarter’s $5.1 billion.
In addition, app installs grew 10.9 percent across both stores combined last quarter to reach 27.1 billion. The popularity of lower-cost Android devices in developing nations rewarded Google Play with an advantage in app install growth last quarter at 14.3 percent, climbing from 17.1 to 19.5 billion year over year. On iOS, new app installs reached 7.6 billion for the quarter, a 3.1 percent increase year over year.
The report also noted that mobile games spending increased 14.9 percent year over year during the quarter to $13.8 billion, or 76 percent of all app revenue worldwide across both platforms. The App Store comprised about 62 percent ($8.5 billion) of that revenue and grew 12.8 percent from the previous year, while Google Play’s gaming revenue increased 18.4 percent and, at $5.3 billion, made up 38 percent of all money spent in mobile games on both stores.
As for non-game mobile apps, Netflix was the world’s top grosser for the third consecutive quarter, bringing in an estimated $243.7 million across both platforms from in-app subscriptions. Tinder and Tencent Video retained their second and third place rankings, respectively, from the second quarter. And social media giant Facebook topped the global app download chart again, with four of the top five apps for the third quarter.