In Q1 2018, Apple App Store generated 22.4 billion yuan (US$3.49 bn) from China, up 29% over Q1 2017. Mobile gaming apps took the largest share of 79% in revenues, but only saw an 18% increase year-on-year, well off that of entertainment apps (138%). The total number of downloads reached 2.5 billion in Q1 2018, representing 32% of the global downloads.

Apple’s App Store derived 32% of its global revenue from China according to Sensor Tower. China had surpassed the US and Japan as the largest iOS App Store market in Q3 2016 and remained its leading position for over a year and a half.

In Q1 2018, the revenue growth was attributed primarily from mobile game apps. Entertainment apps saw an explosive growth in revenues in this period. Social networking apps accounted for 4% of the total with a revenue of 0.8 billion yuan while photo and video apps only accounted for 3% of the total with 0.7 billion yuan in revenues.

The total number of downloads on Apple’s App Store reached 2.5 billion in Q1 2018, up 14% over Q1 2017, representing 32% of the global downloads. Of which, mobile game apps generated near 0.7 billion downloads with a share of 29% while entertainment apps ranked second with 0.22 billion downloads, accounting for only 9% of the total.

Mobile apps belonging to non-mobile game and non-entertainment categories took a 64% share in total downloads, up 14% year-on-year. Of which, downloads of tool apps and photo and video apps were 0.2 billion and 0.17 billion respectively, both had a share of 7% in total.

Check out the top mobile apps in China in Q1 2018 here.

Apple App Store is the top mobile app store by total downloads in China in March 2017 while BAT lead the Android App Store market. And, Tencent owns the top 3 mobile apps.

Top 20 Mobile App Stores in March 2017

Apple’s App Store is the top mobile app store in China which recorded over 500 million downloads in March 2017, followed by YingYongBao (Tencent’s App Store), Baidu Mobile Assistant, and 360 Mobile Assistant.

Top 30 Mobile Apps in China in March 2017

WeChat is the absolute winner in China’s mobile apps market with over 892 million monthly active users, followed by QQ and Tencent Video; all top three are from the Tencent family. The other mobile apps by MAU in the top 10 include iQiyi, Taobao, Baidu, Weibo, Alipay, Youku, and QQ Browser.

70 mobile apps in China each has over 50 million monthly active users in March 2017, an increase of 32% YoY. Read more on mobile app usage here →

Get more details from the updated E-Book – Mobile Trend in China 2017

The top 10 Android app stores by total user coverage in China in December 2016 according to TalkingData are:

1. 360 Mobile Assistant
2. Tencent’s App Store
3. Baidu Mobile Assistant
4. Xiaomi App Store
5. OPPO App Store
6. Xiaomi Games Center
7. Huawei App Store
8. Google Play
9. Vivo Games Store
10. Vivo App Store

In comparison, another research company iiMedia data showed that the top 3 app stores by total number of active users in Q4 2016 were 360 Mobile Assistant (42.4%), Tencent App Store (34.8%), Baidu Mobile Assistant (25.1%), Wandoujia+PP Assistant (21.2%).

China has surpassed the United States as the largest market in the world for iOS App Store revenue earning over $1.7 billion in Q3 2016.

Download E-Book for details: Mobile Trend in China 2017 (CIW Premium members only)

The number of monthly active users (“MAU”) of China’s mobile internet market has reached 1 billion as of September 2016 according to QuestMobile, among which Android and iOS exceeded 700 and 280 million respectively.

iPhone continued to increase MAU while Samsung and Xiaomi saw slightly declining MAUs. The MAUs of Huawei, VIVO and OPPO increased rapidly in Sep 2016.

Huawei and iPhone performed well in the first and second tier cities while OPPO and VIVO have advantages in tier-2, 3, and 4 cities.

The number of apps in 1-5 million MAUs group and “over 50 million” group are still on growth in the 12-month period ending in Sep 2016. Apps in other MAU groups all dropped to varying degrees.

Total monthly time spent on Android apps had been growing rapidly from Sep 2015 to Sep 2016 while that on iOS apps had been fluctuating during the same period.

Monthly time spent on WeChat continued to grow in contrast to decreasing time spent on QQ.

The average number of newly installed apps per user per month was 3 in Sep 2016, which was mainly driven by users under the age of 24. T

The top 5 app stores by app downloads in Sep 2016 are App Store, Yingyongbao (Tencent), Baidu Mobile Assistant, 360 Mobile Assistant, and Huawei App Store. Xiaomi App Store only ranks 6th.

Among apps with MAUs of over 5 million, 7 mobile app categories saw over 100% YoY  growth in Sep 2016.

China has surpassed the United States as the largest market in the world for iOS App Store revenue earning over $1.7 billion in Q3 2016 according to App Annie.

China is leading the US by over 15%. In Q3 2016, Chinese consumers spent more than five times the amount they spent just two years prior in the iOS App Store. China is projected to drive the largest absolute revenue growth for any country by 2020.

75% of apps in the iOS App Store may belong to non-gaming categories; but, 75% of revenue is still produced from games. Entertainment, social networking, books, and photo and video were the top-grossing categories outside of Games on iOS in China in Q3 2016, all of which have more than tripled in revenue year over year.

The third-party mobile app stores had 444 million active usrs as of Q1 2016, led by Qihoo 360’s 360 Mobile Assistant (42.6%), Tencent’s Myapp (34.6%) and Baidu Mobile Assistant (25.5%).

Baidu Mobile Assistant partnered with Apple to promote Apple Music for Android smartphones in January 2016. In the same month, 360 Mobile Assistant launched its TVC endorsed by TFBOYS, a teenage Chinese boy band. Tencent also held a party of its Myapp app store in Beijing.

The total number of active users reached 444 million in Q1 2016 according to iiMedia Research.

360 Mobile Assistant, owned by Qihoo 360, led Android app stores market in China in Q1 2016 based on iiMedia Research data.

Among Android app stores owned by smartphone brands, Xiaomi App Store owned the 25.6% active users, followed by Huawei Ap Store and Meizu Flyme.

Also read: 95 out of 100 Chinese own a mobile phone in 2015

Google Play is expected to launch its China app store in March 2016, which will likely be a separate and independent version of Google Play.

Related: Does Google Play Stand A Chance in China?

Google will launch a Chinese version of the service. However, the new accounts will not link to the international version. Google Play supports Alipay instead of Paypal to cater to Chinese users.

The number of app downloads on Google Play was 100% more than that on Apple App Store in 2015 with about 40 percentage points increase compared to 2014 according to App Annie. Google Play gained more market share in 2015.

App users were more willing to spend money on apps in 2015. Although downloads of Google Play were far more than Apple App Store, revenues of Apple App Store were 75% higher than Google Play.

Users of iOS system seemed to spend more on apps. China’s market accounted for about 30% of Apple overall revenues in 2015. Google hopes to drive more paid service users through Google Play Chinese version.

Google recently released job postings on on LinkedIn to employ up to 60 people in Beijing and Shanghai. Launching a Google Play could extend the benefits for Google to Android based smart devices and games requiring Google services to play in China.

Smartphone vendor HTC is said to manufacture Google Nexus series of smartphones on behalf of Google in China and will launch one to support all telcos networks in the future.

China’s consumers are used to download free mobile apps from fixed app stores on smartphones or third-party app stores and 3.1 million smartphones have installed foreign applications .

Also read: China’s Post-95s Mobile App User Insights 2015

Xiaomi accounted for 10.85% of China’s smartphone market in November 2015, which was the largest domestic brand by total user coverage rate.

However, Apple’s iPhone 6S still ranked first in market share by total user coverage rate, followed by Samsung. Huawei followed Xiaomi ranked the fourth.

User coverage rate of Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi decreased slightly in the past 11 months while Huawei maintained a steady growth. The year 2015 has witnessed strong growth of Huawei smartphones.

Although public attention and company competitiveness of Xiaomi were lower than Apple and Samsung, Xiaomi was obviously strong in product promotions. 9 out of the top 10 smartphone models in China came from Xiaomi and the remaining one was Samsung Galaxy Note 2.

Mi 3 was launched in October 2013. Redmi 1S was launched in May 2014 and Mi 4 was promoted in July 2014. Mi 4 Mobile 4G sales grew quickly in coverage rate this year. Influenced by Mi 3 and Xiaomi Note which was launched early this year, Mi 3 and Redmi 3S decreased in users coverage rate.

Users aged from 26 to 35 years old were the driving force of Xiaomi smartphones according to data of January and November of TalkingData. Users aged from 19 to 25 years old and from 36 to 45 years old were also an important component of Xiaomi smartphone users.

Top 10 regions of Xiaomi users accounted for over 60% of total number of Xiaomi users in November 2015. The top 10 regions were mainly located in eastern coastal and central China.

Users in tier-2 and tier-3 cities combined accounted for over 80% of total users. Mi 3 and Mi 4 with higher prices had larger penetration rate in tier-1 cities than Redmi 1S. Xiaomi Users in Wenzhou and Tianjin increased largely this year and users in Shanghai, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Hefei and Nanjing decreased dramatically.

Xiaomi’s brand recognition had few changes in the past 11 months. Xiaomi at first targeted the young generation aged from 25 to 35 years old with low price and high performance. However, Xiaomi also launched phones over 2,000 yuan (US$308.73) targeting middle and high-income consumers.

Apparel remained the top shopping category of Xiaomi users although the ratio was 3 percentage points lower in November compared to January 2015. And under apparel category, clothing and shoes were the top spends sub-categories of Xiaomi users.

About 42.5% were loyal customers of Xiaomi who bought another smartphone models from Xiaomi. However, other 57.5% bought other smartphone brands. Owing to the overlapping part of targeted customers, 14.0% of these bought Huawei products.

Pricing was an important factor for users changing handsets according to the top 11 Xiaomi models of most loyal users. The top 3 models with most loyal users were relatively low in price compared with other models. Mi 4 and Xiaomi 4C also gained many loyal users.

MIUI App Store remained the fourth best Android app store by user coverage in 2015 relying on a large number Xiaomi users, higher than Huawei, BBK, Maizu and other.

Compared with WeChat, Weibo and other main social platforms, the number of monthly active users of MiTalk was much less while it increased slightly in penetration rate in the past 11 months this year.

Besides smartphones, Xiaomi was also devoted in other smart devices including TV, smart bracelet, tablet, router, camera, water purifier and etc.

Also read: 1/4 China Smartphone Users Install Foreign Apps

China’s mobile internet users reached 657 million and smartphone users 601 million in Q2 2015 according to iiMedia. Smartphone penetration in China is expected to reach 38.6% by the end of 2015 and mobile apps is becoming an important part of Chinese life.

Nearly 58.7% of the Chinese Android smartphone users downloaded apps from third-party app stores. Other important download channels are app stores of smartphone vendors, app stores of system operating vendors and app stores of operating vendors. Only a small amount of users will download apps from websites. Users of iOS usually download from App Stores.

Active users of third-party mobile app stores in Q2 2015 increased to 428 million, with growth of 1.9% compared with the previous quarter. Users of third-party app stores kept a steady growth momentum although the growth rate slows down.

360 Mobile Guard ranks first in terms of total number of active users, followed by Myapp and Baidu Mobile Assistant. Xiaomi app store is also popular, especially among MIUI and Xiaomi users. Stores with high profile, variety of apps and security insurance are key factors to attract more users.

In terms of popularity of various types of mobile apps in China, the Chinese smartphone users prefer instant messaging and social communication apps, followed by news apps and music apps.

App update frequency by developers could reflect the number of active users and the competitiveness. About 14.3% apps are updated once longer than six months which means users aren’t a lot and may not be further maintained.

Tencent News, TouTiao, Netease News and Sohu News are major channels for Chinese to get news information. The post-90s, post-80s and post-70s are the majority of mobile app readers.

By Q2 2015, China’s music apps users reached 423 million with a growth rate of 2.7%. Kugou Music and QQ music win in music apps market with their high publicity and large song lists. Music apps are not used as frequently as news apps.

Taxi-calling apps are the most frequently used amongall car-calling apps for the lower cost. Users who prefer to get a better experience are more likely to use carpooling apps. The average fare of 78.2% taxi trips is less than 50 yuan (US$7.85) while only 24.9% of carpooling is less than 50 yuan. About 36.8% of carpooling costs is between 50 yuan to 100 yuan (US$15.70).

China mobile video app market is basically the same with the online market. Active users of music apps reachED 368 million with a growth rate of 3.1%. A matured online video market of Youku, iQIYI, Tencent Video, PPTV and Sohu Video has been established. Other apps in total accounted for only 18.1% of market share.

China’s mobile gaming users reached 10.85 billion yuan in Q2 2015, with 491 million users. Mobile apps couldn’t process too much storage and a majority of existing apps are puzzle games.

China’s app market still has a large room for development. At present, advertising and value-added services are the two most important profit channels for developers. However, the average usage period of apps is only ten months and about 85% apps are uninstalled within a month, especially social communication apps, which makes it hard for developers to gain profits. Developers should avoid invasion of users’ privacy and improve performance to attract more users.

Also read: China’s Mobile Search Market Insights in Q3 2015

Xiaomi app store saw 20 billion app downloads in H1 2015, and the highest app downloads in a single day was more than 85 million, which took the leading position among China’s app stores.

App download in Xiaomi app store totaled 20 billion in H1 2015, nearly three times more than the same period last year. In Q2 2015, Xiaomi was the top smartphone vendor in China’s market.

Apart from faithful Xiaomi and MIUI users, one main secret of Xiaomi app store was its ever improving apps. In this half, newly uploaded apps covers education, shopping, video and music, health care, tools, lifestyle, entertainment, news, reading, social communication, sports, financing and others.

Downloads of apps reflected vertical markets. In the car calling market, Kuaidi and Didi shared the market in H1 2014. After merging, Kuaidi and Didi totaled 81% of the market, followed by Uber China (18%). Uber formally entered China in Feb 2014, however, policies and different situation made it unharmonious with the Chinese market.

Food delivery app market was shared in H1 2014 by Ele (35%), Meituan (34%) and Taodiandian (26%). In 2015, a new force rose: food-delivery app of Baidu, Baidu Waimai with 12%. As competitors between Alibaba and Baidu, Taodiandian lost 20% of downloads in half a year. Meituan merged with Dianping in Oct 2015; a market dominating player remains unclear.

App downloads were also influenced by holidays and events such as June 18^th which is the ten years founding anniversary of Jingdong; thus many goods were on large discounts. On June 18^th, downloads of Jingdong increased sharply which was nearly 2.5 times more than the total downloads before June 18^th this year.

MIUI 7 was released on August 13, and the new version of Xiaomi app store would be put into use. Google Play recently announced downloads of 500 million while Apple App Store reached 25 billion.

Also read: China Online Shopping Insights in 2014

Total active users of China third-party mobile app store exceeded 420 million in Q1 2015. Nearly 58.7% China’s mobile internet users downloaded apps from third-party mobile app store. At present in China, internet enterprises such as 360 Mobile Assistant are competing for market share with mobile phone vendors such as Xiaomi and Huawei.

According to iiMedia’s report in Q1 2015, China third-party mobile app store’s active users was 420 million (excluding App Store users, self-operating app store by mobile phone enterprises and network operators’ mobile app store).

Also read: 70% App Downloads From Mobile App Stores in China

Weibo has been one of the indispensable mobile apps among China internet users with the popularity of smartphones. Weibo conducted a survey on smartphone development involving 100 million active smart device logging in Weibo in Q4 2014. More devices used logging in Weibo are China’s domestic brands. Among top 10 new smart device on Weibo in Q4 2014, domestic brands accounted for 85%.

In Q4 2014, among the new smartphones used Weibo app, high-end smartphone (>RMB3,000) accounted for 37.1% while smartphones between RMB1,200 and 2,999 accounted for 36.7% which indicates a large percentage of high-income users on Weibo.

In terms of Weibo’s monthly active users’ smartphone brands, Apple ranked top, representing 34.4%, followed by Samsung and Xiaomi.

Also read: Profile of China B2C E-C Weibo Accounts Users in 2014

In Q4 2014, total active users of China mobile app store users exceeded 411 million excluding users from App Store, mobile phone company’s app store and operator’s app store. In Q1 2015, users would be 420 million in China according to iiMedia.

The top three app distribution players in China in the last quarter of 2014 are Baidu league, 360 league and Tencent’s with 42%, 22.3% and 21.8% market share respectively according to EnfoDesk.

Also read: Top 100 Mobile Apps in China

Mobile app stores are the most used channels for downloading apps among China mobile phone internet users; besides, they are also the channels for app updates. 70% app downloads are from mobile app stores in China.

360 mobile assistant accounted for 65.4% and 58.5% in brand awareness and usage rate, ranking top among popular China mobile app stores, followed by Tencent mobile app store and Wandoujia in Q3 2014 according to data of iiMedia.

Tencent Myapp app store had daily distribution volume of 110 million, covering more than 90% China mobile gaming users according to Tencent’s vice president, Wang Bo.

The top 3 mobile app stores by market share in Q3 2014 were Baidu app stores (61.3%), 360 and Tencent according to CNNIC. See more about: China Mobile App Distribution Channels Market Share in Q3 2014

The data shows that instant messenger were the most popular app among China mobile phone internet users in Q3 2014, representing 69%. It is believed that 7 out of 10 mobile phone users installed instant messenger app in Q3 2014 which indicates social need is the basic need for China mobile phone internet users.

The biggest concern of China mobile internet users was the charge issue, which represented 66% of all users. Only 22.8% mobile phone internet users bought application value-added service in Q3 2014. Of which, 53.5% paid for mobile games. As of June 2014, the usage rate of mobile games in China was 47.8% with an increase of 4.7%. Mobile gaming is becoming a habit for many China mobile users’ daily life.

Also read: China Social Video Users to Reach 191M in 2014

Tencent Myapp app store had daily distribution volume of 110 million, covering more than 90% China mobile gaming users according to Tencent’s vice president, Wang Bo.

“Tencent mobile gaming platforms include featured gaming platform and Myapp platfrom. The featured platform consists of Wechat and mobile QQ which can meet users’ entertainment needs while Myapp platform involves Myapp app store and QQ browser which can satisfied various needs”, said Wang Bo.

In Q3 2014, WeChat and mobile QQ’s monthly active users were 468 million and 542 million respectively.

In 2014, Tencent Myapp app store’s distribution had high growth. Compared with the distribution volume of 100 million in November 2014, now the number increased by another 10 million with monthly increase of 10% according to Piao Yanli, Tencent’s commercial vice president.

Tencent’s mobile app distribution kept rapid development in Q3 2014 and it increased by 1.4% from Q2 according to data of EnfoDesk in Q3 2014. The number of China app distribution exceeded 28.6 billion with an increase of 12.3% from prior quarter. Baidu league remained to be the top distribution team with market share of 41.8%.

Also read: Tencent Got More Than WeChat Payment to Compete with Alipay on Mobile

Apple today announced that the App Store has added UnionPay as a payment option for customers in China. China UnionPay is the most popular payment card in China and will provide App Store customers with a simple and more convenient way to purchase their favorite apps. Customers can easily link their Apple ID with a UnionPay debit or credit card for one-tap purchases.

“The ability to buy apps and make purchases using UnionPay cards has been one of the most requested features from our customers in China,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “China is already our second largest market for app downloads, and now we’re providing users with an incredibly convenient way to purchase their favorite apps with just one-tap.”

As a bankcard network, China UnionPay operates China’s national inter-bank clearing and settlement system, develops the worldwide UnionPay Card acceptance network, promotes the issuance and usage of the UnionPay Card as well as other innovative payment solutions, so as to provide quality, efficient and safe payment services to cardholders.

To date, the total number of UnionPay Cards issued both at home and abroad has exceeded 4.5 billion. The UnionPay network has been extended to all cities and rural areas in China. In addition, China UnionPay has enabled UnionPay Card acceptance in over 140 countries and regions through extensive cooperation with more than 400 institutions around the world.

Alibaba is discussing a payment alliance between Apple and Alipay earlier this month that would focus on the Chinese market, and the two parties are currently discussing specifics of a possible partnership.

And, this announced collaboration with UnionPay is for Apple’s App Store and not Apple Pay; it’s still unclear whether Apple will seek a payment partner in China. If they do, Alipay will be most welcome by Chinese users considering it’s the largest mobile payment provider in China.

Also read: Insights of China Mobile Payment (Wechat, Alipay) Users