According to CNBC’s analysis, Apple’s App Store earned $ 64 billion in revenue in 2020, an increase of 28% over the estimated $ 50 billion in 2019. This represents a good amount of growth for the App Store since the estimated increase between 2018 and 2019 it was only 3.1 percent.
It is difficult to say the exact reason for the increase in growth, but it probably had something to do with the COVID-19 pandemic. I can say from experience that I bought a few more games in 2020 than in previous years, as well as subscriptions to fitness and productivity apps to try to regain some control over my life during quarantine.
When Apple reports on its finances, it bundles the money it earns from the App Store with its service revenue, which is by far the fastest growing category. The company has a 30% reduction in most of the money that enters the App Store, which, although there are exceptions and exceptions, represents billions of dollars of revenue. Apple normally keeps its take with care, despite recent resistance from developers like Hey.com and even Epic’s legal challenges.
However, its control has recently eased somewhat, as Apple now receives only a 15% cut from developers who earn less than $ 1 million a year on the App Store. Revenue estimates are unlikely to change much, as analysts estimate that the top 2% of App Store developers generate 95% of revenue.
Every year, Apple reports how much money it has paid developers since 2008. CNBC used this to calculate the App Store’s revenue number by subtracting last year’s number from this year’s, so it represents Apple’s 30 percent cut. While the numbers may be a little rough, Apple doesn’t report them on its own, so all we can do is get close. Regardless, there are two difficult things to discuss: App Store revenue has grown a little this year and has brought a lot of money to developers and Apple.