Global Consumer Spending on Mobile Apps to Jump by 10% and Hit Over $260B in 2024

October 3, 3:11 pm

The global app industry has grown tremendously over the years as people spend more on mobile apps than ever. In 2023, consumers worldwide are expected to spend $236bn on paid apps and in-app purchases and make 262 billion downloads, the highest figures in the market's history. However, 2024 might set a new record.

According to data presented by AltIndex.com, global consumer spending on mobile apps is expected to jump by 10% and hit over $260bn next year.

Global Spending on Mobile Apps More than Doubled in Five Years

Although the largest number of apps available in app stores are free to download, the growth of global consumer spending on apps over the past decade has shown a healthy appetite for premium services and paid app content.

According to a Statista survey, consumers worldwide spent over $112bn on paid apps and in-app purchases in 2019. A year later, this figure jumped by 36% to $153.6bn, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the surge in the use of mobile apps. However, the impressive growth continued in 2021, with revenue increasing by another 23% to nearly $190bn.

Although the growth rates slowed down in the last two years, standing at 11% and 12% in 2022 and 2023, global spending on mobile apps still jumped to over $236bn. Statista expects this figure to increase by 10% in 2024, with consumers worldwide spending $260bn on subscriptions and in-app purchases, more than double the revenue reported in 2019.

Nearly one-third of that figure will come from China, the world's largest app market. Statics show the United States will generate roughly 25% of global consumer spending on mobile apps, or $68bn. Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom follow, with $45.7bn, $14bn, and $5.5bn in revenue, respectively.

Total Number of App Downloads to hit 288 billion in 2024

Besides spending more money on paid apps and in-app purchases, consumers worldwide also download more apps than ever. That shouldn`t surprise considering the average smartphone user spends roughly two hours daily on social and gaming apps, with thousands of new apps on the market each month.

Statista data show the total number of downloads has snowballed since 2017 when the market saw 107.1 billion downloads. By the end of 2020, this figure swelled to 187 billion and continued rising. In 2022, consumers worldwide made over 235 billion app downloads to their connected devices, or 15 billion more than a year before. Statista expects the total number of downloads to hit 262 billion this year and then jump to nearly 288 billion in 2024. By 2025, the total number of downloads will hit over 336 billion.

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