Sponsored By

The latest report from mobile analytics firm App Annie shows China finally surpassing the U.S. in terms of iOS app downloads, though not in revenue.

Alex Wawro, Contributor

April 14, 2015

2 Min Read

The latest report from mobile analytics firm App Annie suggests that, after years of rapid growth, China has finally surpassed the United States when it comes to iOS app downloads -- though the U.S. still leads the world in terms of iOS revenue.

App Annie analysts believe this jump in demand is due in large part to the recent launch of the latest iPhones in China, but it may also be due to the growing preponderance of free-to-play mobile games; according to the report, the lion's share of iOS downloads in China were games or photo/video apps.

Games continue to be the number one worldwide driver of downloads and revenue across both iOS and Google Play, but developers should know that App Annie's latest report shows no big changes in the storefronts' established downloads/revenue relationship (see chart below.) 

Google Play continues to outpace iOS in terms of downloads, but iOS is still king when it comes to revenue -- though the gap continues to close.

The report claims that for the first quarter of 2015, worldwide revenue from the iOS App Store was roughly 70 percent higher than what Google Play generated. That's a notable decrease from the same period last year, when App Annie reported that Apple's App Store earned roughly 85 percent more revenue than Google's storefront.

At this point Google Play sees roughly 70 percent more app downloads than Apple's App Store worldwide, a significant jump over the 45 percent lead Google demonstrated during the same period last year. The U.S. continues to top the charts in terms of Play downloads, though Japan continues to be the number-one spender on Google Play apps worldwide.

For more data gleaned from App Annie's mobile analytics platform, you can check out the full report.

Read more about:

2015

About the Author(s)

Daily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inbox

You May Also Like