Android solidifies its position atop the mobile gaming market

Android and iOS are the undisputed leaders of the mobile operating system market with a combined market share of 96.3%. The likes of BlackBerry and Windows Phone are left fighting over the 3.7% scraps that Apple and Google leave behind for them. That dominance continues over into the mobile gaming market as well, which has risen to become a $25 billion market with more than a billion smartphones and tablets being used for gaming across the globe.

Although Android’s share of the mobile operating system market is 81.5%, its share of the mobile gaming market is a bit smaller at around 75%. That’s still an insane number, and it’s growing every year at the cost of both iOS and the rest of the competition.

This trend is also true for mobile growth in general, with Android increasing its share of the mobile operating system market from 78.7% last year to the aforementioned 81.5% and selling more than a billion smartphones for the first time ever, far more than last year’s 800 million figure. iOS, on the other hand, slipped from a 15.1% market share to a slightly smaller 14.8%, although Apple did manage to increase it smartphone shipments by a whipping 25.6% thanks to the release of the iPhone 6.

Another area where Android beats out iOS is how significant mobile gaming is to the platform’s default app store. While somewhere around 20-35% of all app store downloads are for mobile games, that number is growing for Android and shrinking for iOS. The same is true for how much spending on each platform comes from mobile games, with around 75% of Apple’s app store revenue coming from games, a number that has remained pretty much the same since last year, and about 85% for Google, which is up from last year.

It’s clear that mobile gaming is an incredibly lucrative business, one that’s especially important to Apple and Google. Most of the money actually comes from in-app purchases for free games such as Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Clans, each of which has managed to pull in more than $1 billion in revenue over the last few years, with Apple and Google taking 30% cuts from every purchase made.

This post may contain affiliate links. Meaning a commission is given should you decide to make a purchase through these links, at no cost to you. All products shown are researched and tested to give an accurate review for you.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *