Apple’s United States App Store generated over US$10 billion in revenue in 2024, according to data from the app intelligence firm Appfigures.

This figure represents a significant increase from the US$4.76 billion in commissions reported in 2020, more than doubling over the four-year period.

Developers on the US App Store earned US$33.68 billion in gross revenue last year.

They received US$23.57 billion after Apple’s commission.

Globally, Appfigures estimates that the App Store generated US$91.3 billion in revenue in 2024.

🔗 Source: TechCrunch

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ App Store’s revenue growth reveals Apple’s pivotal shift to services business

The App Store’s doubling of US revenue from $4.76 billion in 2020 to $10.1 billion in 2024 represents a crucial transformation in Apple’s business model toward recurring service revenue.

This growth aligns with Apple’s broader services strategy, which began showing strong results as early as 2018 when the App Store generated $22.6 billion in just the first half of that year 1.

The App Store has consistently outperformed Google Play in monetization, with top App Store publishers earning 64% more revenue on average than their Google Play counterparts ($83.8 million vs. $51 million per quarter) 2.

This revenue dominance extends to both gaming and non-gaming categories, with iOS developers earning substantially more in categories like subscriptions, where top publishers averaged $23.3 million on iOS compared to just $7 million on Google Play 2.

With the App Store now generating approximately $70 billion annually 3, the legal challenges to Apple’s commission structure directly threaten a high-margin business segment that has become increasingly central to Apple’s financial growth story.

2️⃣ The 30% commission model faces an existential challenge after a decade of dominance

The federal judge’s ruling that Apple violated court orders to reform its App Store policies marks the most significant challenge yet to the standard 30% commission model that has defined app marketplaces since 2008.

This ruling follows years of increasing scrutiny, during which time Apple’s App Store revenue grew by 291% between 2014 and 2019 2 while maintaining essentially the same commission structure.

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