Apple’s App Store Marks $1.4 Trillion Sales and Billing Milestone

Apple says its App Store facilitated more than $1.4 trillion in developer sales/billings last year.

That’s according to new findings released by the tech giant Thursday (June 4), which also show that developers did not pay a commission to Apple for 90% of these transactions.

“Developers are the heartbeat of the App Store, and this year’s incredible milestone is a testament to their boundless creativity,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a news release.

“We are deeply committed to providing developers with the tools, technologies and trusted platforms they need to build for the future,” Cook added. “Together, developers are creating apps that enrich the lives of users around the world.”

The study also found that more than 40% of the top 100 apps last year featured consumer-facing artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, and those apps enjoyed stronger billing growth than the rest of the top 100.

“Across the App Store, AI is becoming an increasingly integral part of how apps are experienced,” the release added. “From health and fitness apps that deliver personalized recommendations using on-device intelligence, to photo and video editing apps with AI-powered creative features, and productivity tools that leverage powerful, cloud-based AI models to automate complex tasks—the integration of AI into everyday apps is creating new opportunities for developers.”

This follows reports from last month that Apple aims to offer third-party AI models alongside its in-house models, part of a strategy to turn its devices into AI platforms by making it easier for users to access the options they want.

“For two decades, the smartphone was the device people carried to access the internet,” PYMNTS wrote soon after. “Now it’s becoming the device they carry to access artificial intelligence. The companies that understand the difference are building phones, forging $50 billion alliances and racing to control the operating system in the consumer’s hand.”

Research from PYMNTS Intelligence, based on data from nearly 20,000 U.S. consumers tracked monthly, found the fastest-growing AI tasks in the last six months are household logistics, discount code searches and meal planning.

“All those tasks that happen on a phone, not a desktop,” the report said.

In other Apple news, the company released a report in May showing that the App Store prevented $2.2 billion in fraudulent transactions last year.

Apple credited this to a “multilayered” defense system, which brings together “expert human review and advanced machine learning technologies to detect and stop malicious activity,” like the theft of customers’ financial information.