Historic levels of iPhone sales in China are helping fuel a booming iOS app economy, according to a new analysis.
Mobile app market tracker App Annie says software in Apple’s iOS App Store now earns 70% more revenue than apps in Android’s Google Play store, TechCrunch reports. That’s up from 60% versus Google in 2014’s third quarter.
TechCrunch credits the widening gap to massive sales of Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in China:
China’s importance to the app industry cannot be understated. China has, for the first time since App Annie has been measuring iOS downloads by country (July 2010), surpassed the U.S. in quarterly iOS downloads in the first quarter of 2015.
But while China is seeing a rise in new iPhone owners purchasing iOS apps, the U.S. still leads in terms of overall app revenue. Meanwhile, emerging markets account for most Google Play app downloads, which remain higher in sheer quantity than the total number of iOS app downloads.
Apple posted record revenue of $74.6 billion to start the year, a change from $57.6 billion year-over-year. Google, meanwhile, reported revenue of $18.1 billion, a change from $15.4 billion from last year.