China will account for nearly 40 per cent of global app store spend by end-2022, which research company App Annie forecasts will reach $156.5 billion that year.

The company predicts China will continue to be the dominant force in the global app economy, with consumer spend in apps stores increasing 107 per cent to $62.4 million from end-2017 to end-2022 (see chart below, click to enlarge). Downloads in the country are expected to increase 51 per cent to 119.5 billion during the period. The growth is being driven by a combination of new users coming online and rising spend in higher-tiered cities, App Annie said.

While the US is forecast to remain the second-largest country over the five year period, countries in Asia are expected to continue to dominate the global top-five. Combined, China and Japan will have a 53 per cent share of global app store spend: South Korea will have a 5 per cent share.

Worldwide consumer spend in app stores is forecast to increase 13.9 per cent annually to 2022: App Annie expects the spend to pass the $100 billion mark this year.

Downloads
While China will remain the leader by a large margin, India will consolidate its second place position, with downloads tipped to increase 208 per cent to 37.2 billion between 2017 and 2022 (see chart below, click to enlarge).
Global app downloads are projected to increase 45 per cent over the period to 258 billion, with the growth driven by the installed base of smartphones rising from 3.9 billion in 2017 to 6.1 billion in 2022.

Average spend per device for apps is predicted to reach $25.65 by 2022, up from $20.94 in 2017. Annual per device spend in Japan is forecast to top $140 by 2022, a figure which will be nearly six times the global average, by far the highest in the world, the company said.