Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Android apps could rake in more cash than iOS this year — but there’s a catch

By

nexus 5 smartphone
bloomua/123RF
This year is slated to be a pivotal one for app sales, according to a report from App Annie. The analytics firm projects Android app revenue to overtake that of iOS for the first time ever by the end of 2017 — but there’s a catch.

Apple’s App Store should pull in $40 billion, by App Annie’s estimation. This would make for an increase of $6 billion over last year’s numbers. Google Play, on its own, is expected to deliver a little more than half that in 2017 — $21 billion. So where’s the other $20 billion coming from?

App Annie
App Annie
Recommended Videos

If you combine Google Play’s revenue with that of other Android app stores, like Amazon’s, Samsung’s, and SlideMe, app spend on the platform could overtake iOS by roughly $1 billion, the report claims. While Google on its own may narrow the gap to Apple over the next five years — App Annie says by 2021, Google could be earning somewhere around $42 billion a year, compared to Apple’s $60 billion — the company will likely continue to lose significant sales to third-party marketplaces for the foreseeable future.

Related

What makes Apple’s performance especially impressive is that the company managed less than half the app downloads Google achieved last year — 29 billion to 63 billion, respectively — and still raked in double the sales. App Annie attributes this to Apple’s relatively more affluent customers, but Android could somewhat compensate for this with its more dominant market share worldwide and rapidly growing install base in emerging markets like India, Brazil, and Indonesia.

Such markets are expected to play a major role in the growth of the app economy — particularly China, which is beginning to mature. The country far and away leads the rest of the world in terms of downloads, but App Annie sees this trend slowing in the next few years. At the same time, revenue from Chinese users may actually increase. The report predicts China could eventually account for as much as 41 percent of worldwide app spending by 2021.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Adam Ismail
Adam Ismail
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Adam’s obsession with tech began at a young age, with a Sega Dreamcast – and he’s been hooked ever since. Previously…
Everything you need to know about the massive Apple App Store outage
App Store on-screen illustration

Happy Wednesday evening, everyone! You're unwinding for the day, getting ready for a relaxing night, and ... you realize that the App Store and a bunch of other Apple services aren't working. Don't worry, you aren't alone.

What Apple services are down? When did the problems start? Is the outage still ongoing? Here's everything you need to know.
When did the App Store outage start?
According to DownDetector, reports of outages with the App Store flooded in a little after 6 p.m. ET. Reports appear to have spiked at over 6,000, indicating pretty widespread problems.

Read more
The 7 biggest features we expect to see in iOS 18
The home screen on the Apple iPhone 15 Plus.

Apple revealed that its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will take place on June 10. This is when we expect to see the next iteration of software across all of Apple’s products, including iOS 18.

From the sounds of it, we’re in for a big update with iOS 18, rumored to be one of the “biggest updates” yet. Here’s what we expect from Apple's next major iPhone update with iOS 18.
A more customizable home screen

Read more
This could be our first look at iOS 18’s huge redesign
An iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 14 Pro standing upright on a desk.

While iOS 17 fell short on a visual overhaul, Apple is rumored to be working on an updated identity for its next iOS version. Previous reports have claimed that the upcoming iOS 18 will feature visionOS-like elements introduced on the Apple Vision Pro. A new report confirms this with a leaked image of the iOS 18 Camera app.

According to a report from MacRumors, the next version of the Camera app could feature visionOS-style design elements. It is based on an iPhone frame template that the publication received from an anonymous source who claimed to have received it from an iOS engineer. It is said to have been included as part of the Apple Design Resources for iOS 18.

Read more