Apple released a year-end update for its Services business, highlighting a record-breaking period for its App Store as customers spent $1.42 billion in the final week of December 2019.

In a statement, Apple said customers spent the amount between 24 and 31 December, representing a 16 per cent increase year-on-year. The growth continued into 2020, with spend on 1 January hitting $386 million, up 20 per cent on the opening day of 2019.

Providing a broader update on the platform, it said half a billion people visit the App Store each week and, since its initial launch in 2008, developers had earned $155 billion in total.

A quarter of those earnings were generated in 2019 alone, Apple added.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s SVP of Internet Software and Services said 2019 was the “biggest year for Services” in the company’s history, as it added Apple Arcade, TV+, News+ and Card to its existing App Store, Apple Music and iCloud platforms.

In the update, the company also provided a list of the top ten free iPhone apps downloaded by customers in 2019.

Topping the list was YouTube, followed by Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.