On June 5, 2025, Apple published a report titled The Global App Store and Its Growth, which outlines the App Store’s role in the global economy. The study, prepared by economists from the Analysis Group and a select group of academics, presents bold figures – most notably, that the App Store ecosystem facilitated nearly $1.3 trillion in sales and billings in 2024. According to the report, developers earned over 90% of that without paying Apple a cent in commission. Generous? Strategic? A bit of both?
Apple released the report just days before WWDC25, which begins on Monday, June 9. That move looks smart. It draws attention from developers, brings fresh energy to the conversation, and reminds everyone how central the App Store has become – not only for Apple, but for the entire digital economy. Whether planned or not, the timing works. So now, let’s see what this report actually says, how the numbers add up, and what Apple’s role looks like behind all those trillion-dollar figures.
What the Report Shows and Why It Sounds Impressive
We won’t repeat every line, footnote, or methodology Apple included in its latest App Store report. If you want the full experience – with tables, source citations, and a layout that looks like it came straight from Apple’s Keynote – you can check out the full PDF on their newsroom page.
Instead, here’s a short breakdown of the highlights. These figures outline how Apple sees the App Store’s global role and help illustrate the scale of the ecosystem it supports:
- 💰 According to the report, iOS apps ‘facilitated’ nearly $1.3 trillion in global billings and sales during 2024. No, that’s not a typo. And no, it’s not just App Store purchases. That figure includes everything from someone ordering a sandwich through a delivery app to someone buying a sweater on their phone at 2 a.m. That total reflects about 1% of the entire global economy.
- 🛍️ Out of that $1.3 trillion, the overwhelming majority – about $1.014 trillion (78%) – came from physical goods and services. Think retail shopping, food delivery, rides, hotel bookings. In short, anything that Apple doesn’t actually touch but still includes in the count.
- 📱 Next up: digital goods and services. That slice came in at $131 billion (10%). This includes in-app purchases, media subscriptions, app downloads – basically, the stuff that goes through Apple’s own payment system. This is also where Apple makes its money.
- 📊 Advertising brought in another $150 billion (12%). These are the ads you see in games, free apps, and occasionally in that one weather app that somehow includes five banners and a video ad before you see the temperature. Apple doesn’t handle the ad cash directly here, but still counts it under its economic umbrella.
- ⏫ Between 2019 and 2024, the App Store ecosystem more than doubled in size, from $514 billion to $1.295 trillion. That’s a +152% jump overall. Some categories saw even stronger growth. Apple attributes this to shifting consumer habits and increased reliance on mobile apps.
- 🌍 The App Store doesn’t stop at Cupertino’s doorstep. Apple’s report breaks down its global impact – the United States, China, and Europe. China led in raw numbers, mainly thanks to enormous mobile commerce usage. Meanwhile, the U.S. leaned more heavily into digital subscriptions and in-app ads. Europe, as usual, remained somewhere in between.
- 👥 According to Apple, the App Store attracted 813 million visitors per week in 2024. That’s more than the population of Europe, every seven days. If the App Store were a shopping mall, it would probably violate a few fire codes.
- 🤝 One of Apple’s proudest stats – over 90% of all commerce in the App Store ecosystem involved no commission to Apple. In plain English, that means developers earned roughly $1.17 trillion, and Apple only took its usual cut from the digital goods processed through its payment system.
A Bit of Marketing or the Full Picture?
The App Store is a powerful platform. We won’t argue with that. It opened new paths for developers, helped businesses reach mobile users, and changed how people interact with services every day. No one’s denying that ordering tacos, booking a babysitter, or reading a novel on your iPhone feels like magic. And yes, magic deserves credit.
But when we looked closer at the report, a few things didn’t quite line up. Here are the main points where the numbers raise questions:
- 🤐 The report highlights how over 90% of the App Store ecosystem brings no commission to Apple, and focuses on developer earnings instead. But it leaves out one important figure – Apple’s own revenue. Court documents have already shown that the App Store operates with high profit margins. It’s hard to believe that the remaining 10%, apps that use Apple’s in-app payment system, are enough to fund the entire infrastructure Apple describes. If that were truly the case, the Coalition for App Fairness (which came out during the Apple vs. Epic Games battle) might never have formed. Many developers have long argued that a fair cut would sit somewhere around 8-12%, not the 30% Apple enforced before recent court rulings reshaped the terms. Also, Apple highlights what worked. But the tension that led to public disagreements, industry coalitions, and multiple court cases doesn’t fit neatly into the slide deck.
- 🦠 From 2019 to 2024, Apple reports that the App Store ecosystem grew by 152%. Some categories grew even faster: spending on physical goods and services rose by 162%, in-app ad revenue jumped by 131%, and grocery delivery apps saw 5x growth in China alone. Apple presents this as a reflection of innovation, but these years also included a global pandemic that pushed much of daily life onto mobile screens. That shift accelerated app-based commerce across the board. The report doesn’t mention that context, but it clearly influenced the results.
So, What Do We Take from All This?
Apple’s Global App Store and Its Growth report presents an ecosystem of impressive scale. The App Store influenced how people shop, work, and stay connected. The numbers show that mobile apps now anchor the global economy, with Apple right at the center. So it makes sense that the company took the chance to remind everyone how much value its platform creates – for developers, users, and yes, itself.
However, taking the above facts into account, it’s easy to think that this report aims not only to highlight the App Store’s contribution to the global economy but also to serve as indirect support in ongoing legal debates over market dominance. At the same time, the message feels like an invitation, especially to developers. The numbers suggest that real revenue is possible here, whether you build a grocery app, a digital tool, or the next hit game. It positions the App Store not just as a platform, but as a business opportunity – one that continues to grow, despite the scrutiny.
