That brings the total number of apps users spent money on from $64.4 billion to $65 billion, globally. As noted above, at least part of the discrepancy comes down to reduced spending over the previous peak pandemic years. 2021 saw an increase of 30 percent in terms of app spending from 2020. That’s on the Google Play Store. Apple’s App Store saw a 21 percent increase for the same time period.
Google is bearing the brunt of the slide in terms of app spending
Notably, last year saw massive increases in several categories of apps. One of the biggest was in messaging and video chat apps. But food delivery service apps grew rapidly as well as some other categories. Some of the best such apps not only grew but cornered segments of their respective markets. At least on a regional basis. This year, however, Google’s numbers are taking the brunt of the slip in growth. While Apple’s figures appear to have increased slightly, numbers for the Google Play Store actually fell. Year-over-year, app spending on the Google Play Store is projected to have dipped 7.4 percent for the first six months of the year. That’s as compared to 2021. In total, that would equate to around $21.3 billion in spending on the Google Play Store. Apple’s App Store saw figures closer to 43.7 billion, conversely. For the first six months of 2021, on the other hand, Android users spent closer to $23 billion on their apps from the Google Play Store.
