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China outpaces U.S. in iOS App Store revenue

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The Chinese user base is apparently even more app-crazy than its U.S. counterpart.

According to a new report out this morning from app intelligence firm App Annie, the country earned over $1.7 billion in Q3 2016, which puts it ahead of the U.S. by over 15 percent. The U.S. had been the number one iOS market since 2010.

Today, Chinese consumers spend more than 5 times the amount they were spending compared with just two years prior.


The report also predicts that China will drive the largest absolute revenue growth for any country by 2020.

The estimations are likely accurate – App Annie said at the beginning of the year that if China’s rapid App Store revenue growth continued at the same pace, it would overtake the U.S. by year’s end. This has now occurred.

China’s app store growth is largely driven by games, wherein the country widened its lead over the U.S. during the past quarter. Games drive 75 percent of App Store revenue, even though non-game apps make up the majority (75 percent) of those distributed in Apple’s mobile marketplace.

The new report also examined the ongoing popularity of the game of the year: Pokémon Go. The app reached $600 million in revenues faster than any other app to date. It achieved that milestone 2.5 times faster than Candy Crush Saga; 5 times faster than Puzzle & Dragons; and over 6.2 times faster than the highly successful Clash of Clans.

Following Pokémon Go, the other top downloaded apps on the iOS App Store included Uber, Messenger, WhatsApp, Facebook, Hero MOBA (China), YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, then Google Maps. Much of the remaining list included top Chinese apps, like Youku, Snake Wars, iQIYI, Tencent Video, Didi Chuxing, National K Song, and Meituan.

Via TechCrunch and App Annie