Apple said its App Store registered its biggest day ever on 1 January 2017, with nearly $240 million worth of purchases made.

The company said developers earned more than $20 billion from the store through 2016, up 40 per cent year-on-year. Cumulatively, since 2008 developers have made more than $60 billion from apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Mac.

In December 2016, App Store sales topped $3 billion, while Nintendo’s Super Mario Run “made history” with more than 40 million downloads in four days after its release – it was also the most downloaded app globally on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

For the full year, Niantic’s Pokemon Go claimed the ‘most downloaded’ crown.

Apple also said the total number of apps available on the App Store grew by more than 20 per cent year-on-year to 2.2 million.