App Downloads and Revenues Recently Skyrocketed, but This Is Just the Beginning

April 20, 2018 - 2 minutes read

The app market broke records in late 2017, but it’s not done growing yet. According to mobile analysis firm App Annie, 2018’s first quarter experienced 10% growth for all app downloads compared to Q1 2017. Spending increased by 22%, bringing revenue to an all-time high of $18.4 billion. It is a great time to be a mobile app developer!

Growth on a Global Scale

Since San Francisco-based App Annie only analyzes new installs of apps (excluding re-installs, updates, and re-installs on new devices), the growth is considerably massive. All in all, smartphone users downloaded 27.5 billion new apps total on Android and iOS in the first quarter of 2018.

Google’s Play Store led the growth, accounting for over 19.2 billion new installs, with the largest market growth in India, Brazil, and Indonesia. Apple’s App Store hit over 8.2 billion new downloads, with the largest growth in the U.S., Turkey, and Russia.

Still Much More Potential

Even though Apple’s users have spent more money with in-app purchases, Android is catching up there too. App Annie counted money only from paid apps, in-app purchases, and in-app subscriptions (excluding revenue from advertising, third-party offers, or m-commerce (i.e. Uber or Groupon)).

Gaming experienced major market growth, with games like Fortnite and PUBG Mobile launching high-quality gaming apps to supplement their major console versions. Mobile shopping also saw a big growth, as retailers continue investing in their own apps to drive mobile purchases.

The Play Store alone had its largest growth in music, audio (like podcasts), and entertainment apps; Spotify, Pandora, and Slacker were among the popular picks. Apple’s App Store saw the most growth in health and fitness apps, but who’s to say those New Year resolutions won’t drop off as the year goes on? We’ll have to wait and see if in-app subscriptions for tracking calories and weight loss maintain their strong growth.

What apps have you downloaded recently? It’s historically been difficult to persuade consumers into delving back into the App Store unless they’ve bought a new phone recently. But these numbers suggest that this could be changing.

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