It appears that this Christmas was a good one for developers and businesses (and Google and Apple as well, thanks to that sweet 30% fee), as the combined global app spending across the Android and iOS ecosystems crossed the $407 million mark for a single day in 2020. As per a Sensor Tower report, consumers spent a staggering $407.6 million across the Google Play Store and App Store on Christmas, which amounts to a significant 34.5% growth on a YoY basis compared to 2019.

“2020 has been a record-setting year for worldwide spending on mobile apps and games, which passed $100 billion in a single year for the first time ever in November,” the report adds. The single-day spending on mobile apps this Christmas accounted for 4.5% of the total spending this month as of December, which stands at an equally impressive $9 billion worldwide. Here are a few key observations from Sensor Tower’s analysis: 

App Store handily surpassed Play Store

  • Apple’s App Store again emerged as the more cash-rich platform. Apple’s repository captured 68.4% ($278.6 million) share of the Christmas day app spending, while Google’s Play Store could only reach $129 million. 

Image Sensor Tower

  • On a market basis, US was the biggest one. Smartphone users in the US spent a combined $130 million on Android and iOS apps this Christmas. 

Mobile games were the top-grossing category

  • Mobile games emerged as the leading category this holiday season, which brought in $295.6 million on Christmas this year. This is a 27% growth compared to 2019. Talking about the crown, Tencent’s Honor of Kings led the spendings chart by bringing in $10.7 million in a single day.
  • Non-gaming apps raked in $112 million this Christmas, and the category that won here was entertainment. Consumer spending on entertainment apps reached $19.3 million this year on the App Store, while the Google Play Store amassed $4.3 million from these apps. TikTok emerged as the top grosser, with consumer spending touching the $4.7 million mark on Christmas day.