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Apple Highlights App Store Study: $1.4 Trillion in Sales Last Year, More Than 90% Commission-Free

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Apple today highlighted a new study by economists at Analysis Group that outlines four key App Store stats for 2025.

Ahead of WWDC 2026 next week, Apple's core message with this press release is that the App Store is reaching new heights and that "developers continue to thrive globally."

  • App Store ecosystem facilitated a record $1.4 trillion in total billings and sales
  • Apple received no commission on more than 90% of those billings and sales, but this includes physical goods and services ordered in apps
  • Apps featuring consumer-facing AI saw 4× more growth in billings
  • App Store ecosystem has nearly tripled in size since 2019

Article Link: Apple Highlights App Store Study: $1.4 Trillion in Sales Last Year, More Than 90% Commission-Free
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/06/04/apple-highlights-2025-app-store-study/
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They are counting all as non-commission all the times you went and ordered an Uber, or booked an AirBnb, or bought something off a website? Very misleading to claim that as not being greedy.

Next are the electrical companies are going to say that they do even more trillions in assisted sales commission-free?
 
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What does Apple consider as a transaction?
Apple received no commission on more than 90% of transactions
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure that at this point, every app is freemium. Am I reading this correctly that 90% of installs never convert to paid? Or do they mean only 10% of apps are paid non-freemium, and aren't including IAP's, which they tend to call "entitlements"? So many questions around this.
 
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From the study:

Of this total, $149 billion, or approximately 10%, was attributable to digital goods and services and $1.1 trillion, or about 79%, came from sales of physical goods and services. In-app advertising revenue from ads placed by developers in their apps on iOS devices accounted for an additional $151 billion, or roughly 10% of the total.
Click to expand...

So the "90% commission free" is the sum of the 80% that are physical goods or services and the 11% that are third-party ad networks (that Apple has somehow resisted the urge to tax; maybe that's finally coming at WWDC).

And then the remaining 10% is everyone who grits their teeth, adjusts their business model, and pays the Apple tax to sell digital goods.

It is actually astonishing that Apple is touting this as a good thing. Apple's rent-seeking approach to digital goods on iOS means only 10% of transactions on iOS are for digital. It should easily be double that, probably quadruple! The $149 billion market could be $249 billion if Apple loosened their restrictions just a bit!

This is the one thing I honestly hope Ternus changes when he takes the big chair. For all the good calls Cook has made over the past 15 years, this has been the one big COO-brained thing he simply couldn't let go of.
 
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thejadedmonkey said:
What does Apple consider as a transaction?

I'm pretty sure that at this point, every app is freemium. Am I reading this correctly that 90% of installs never convert to paid? Or do they mean only 10% of apps are paid non-freemium, and aren't including IAP's, which they tend to call "entitlements"? So many questions around this.
Click to expand...

When you order physical goods or call Uber. Those Apple doesn't charge a cent are considered transaction. I believe if you buy from Amazon App it would also count.
 
turbineseaplane said:
Steve has a good point here.

It's been a lot of FUD from Apple (and in Apple-land) around so many of the App Store "concerns".

View attachment 2635003
Click to expand...
Oh yes, burned every single one of those bridges! It’s a shame they’ll never make $1.4 Trillion in sales due to all the developer bridges they burned. You know, to the point that developers no longer see value in customers that could very well, one day, have driven $1.4 Trillion in sales. 🙂

Apps are still not “sideloaded” as defined in the dictionary. Every app going to an iPhone around the world is going through a structure required and defined by the governments were Apple’s still in full control in order to prevent malware, PR disasters AND so that if a government wants an app off of an iPhone, they go to one party to have it removed, even from the third party stores. (This has already been used)

It’s actually like Apple was telling the truth when they indicated that the majority of developers and consumers don’t care about those things and, if Apple’s allowed to keep it locked down, customers will still come and developers will still profit. 🙂
 
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Ctrlos said:
I'd be interested to see how those numbers compare to the Play Store.
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They don’t compare… because Apple’s ecosystem gives people the confidence in spending money and gives developers a way to reliably earn revenue from their work with consumer purchases instead of ads. To the point where the number of dollars flowing to developers from iOS dwarfs the dollars going to developers from Android sales. Even with a worldwide marketshare of only 20% consumers developers regularly report that the money they make from being on the App Store makes it worth the effort.
 
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germanbeer007 said:
love to see how anti-apple-app-store users explain how to fund distributing 90% of the commission free apps while maintaining ease of use of one store that users love.
Click to expand...
Love? Not me. I can’t love a store that

-Shows ads that make me feel like I’m browsing Amazon
-Highlights reviews that are five years old and makes you dig for reviews actually relevant to the current state of the app
-Has non-sensical lists of available in-app purchases
-Does not allow developers to offer free trials or upgrade pricing
-Has a review system that is a farce, given all the fraudulent apps that pass what is euphemistically called “review,” as admitted by Apple in the Epic trial.
 
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turbineseaplane said:
Steve has a good point here.

It's been a lot of FUD from Apple (and in Apple-land) around so many of the App Store "concerns".

View attachment 2635003
Click to expand...

There's no evidence that EU owners even use the 3rd party app stores. Which would mean that Apple concern stays true. I imagine 99% of users globally use Apples Apple Store with 0.6% using 3rd party.
 
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Octothorpe said:
They are counting all as non-commission all the times you went and ordered an Uber, or booked an AirBnb, or bought something off a website? Very misleading to claim that as not being greedy.

Next are the electrical companies are going to say that they do even more trillions in assisted sales commission-free?
Click to expand...
The vast majority of transactions are to companies that just want their app available to customers that want to use their services. Services that, by and large, can operate without iOS. Companies that want to deliver digital only application solutions that wholly depend on the technology built in iOS are the minority.
 
chickenpiccata said:
Love? Not me. I can’t love a store that

-Shows ads that make me feel like I’m browsing Amazon
-Highlights reviews that are five years old and makes you dig for reviews actually relevant to the current state of the app
-Has non-sensical lists of available in-app purchases
-Does not allow developers to offer free trials or upgrade pricing
-Has a review system that is a farce, given all the fraudulent apps that pass what is euphemistically called “review,” as admitted by Apple in the Epic trial.
Click to expand...
I suppose one doesn’t have to love it to use it 🙂
 
hovscorpion12 said:
There's no evidence that EU owners even use the 3rd party app stores. Which would mean that Apple concern stays true. I imagine 99% of users globally use Apples Apple Store with 0.6% using 3rd party.
Click to expand...
A few do (if the posts I’ve seen are real people), but nowhere near enough that any company would put forth any effort to appease that tiny group of folks if they weren’t forced to.
 
maruyama said:
And then the remaining 10% is everyone who grits their teeth, adjusts their business model, and pays the Apple tax to sell digital goods.
Click to expand...
The remaining 10% is everyone that has decided that the way they want to make money in this world, outside of the MYRIAD number of ways to make money in this world, is through delivering products to users of Apple devices that require an App Store. I don’t develop for any of Apple’s platforms and, oddly enough, I’m able to not pay a commission because I don’t do that. Anyone else that similarly don’t want to pay the Apple tax to sell digital goods on Apple devices can simply… I mean… not sell digital goods on Apple devices. If they REALLY don’t want to pay the Apple tax I mean. Like if that’s their number one thing they NEVER want to do in their lives.

In fact, I’d say it’s easier to NOT pay the Apple tax than to pay it because of all the steps required before one can even put themselves in the position of paying the Apple tax. No one walking down the street right now is going to trip and fall into an Apple tax situation. It’s wholly an intentional act. 🙂
 
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chickenpiccata said:
Love? Not me. I can’t love a store that

-Shows ads that make me feel like I’m browsing Amazon
-Highlights reviews that are five years old and makes you dig for reviews actually relevant to the current state of the app
-Has non-sensical lists of available in-app purchases
-Does not allow developers to offer free trials or upgrade pricing
-Has a review system that is a farce, given all the fraudulent apps that pass what is euphemistically called “review,” as admitted by Apple in the Epic trial.
Click to expand...

I think you misunderstood what I was referring to when I said "love"
 
turbineseaplane said:
I feel like it's only fair for Apple to get a cut of the grocery purchase I'm currently planning later today.

I am using the Apple Notes App, after all.
Click to expand...
And if that’s the deal that you agreed to Apple with by using the Notes App, then that’s the payment that’s due that you agreed to.

I didn’t agree to that for using the Notes App, so fortunately, I don’t have to pay it. 😀
 
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turbineseaplane said:
If nobody is using it, Apple's "concern" is a completely moot point.
Click to expand...

If Apple's "concern" is a moot point, then you agree (as you said) nobody is using third party stores.
If nobody is using third party stores, get rid of the mandate.

I'll take Apple getting a point wrong if it means you agree third party stores aren't being used and therefore it shouldn't be mandated.
 
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