Last Year, Apple App Store Sales in Korea Reached 38 Trillion Won, Doubling from Five Years Ago

Seoul National University and Analysis Group Research Report
Tim Cook: "We Will Continue to Support Korean Developers"

A recent study has found that domestic revenue generated from Apple's App Store last year reached 38 trillion won, more than doubling compared to five years ago.

According to the results of the study "Korea's App Store Ecosystem—Value Provided to Developers and Users," released by Apple on August 6, total sales and billings through the Apple App Store ecosystem in Korea amounted to 38.1 trillion won (approximately 26.8 billion USD) last year. This figure more than doubled compared to 2020, just five years prior. The research was conducted by Professor Jae Hyun Lim of Seoul National University and Dr. Juliette Caminade of Analysis Group.

The rapid growth of small-scale developers was especially notable, with their revenue increasing by 85% over the past five years. According to the report, more than 95% of domestic developers are classified as small-scale—defined as generating less than 1.5 billion won in annual revenue or fewer than one million annual downloads.

When breaking down sales generated through the domestic App Store by category: approximately 32.3 trillion won came from purchases of physical goods and services, around 3.7 trillion won from digital goods and services, and about 2.1 trillion won from in-app advertising sales and billings. In the physical goods and services sector, the travel category showed the highest rate of growth. For digital goods and services, mobile games and streaming services led growth. Photo and video editing, as well as educational apps, also saw significant increases.

Another notable trend is the popularity of apps developed in Korea among domestic users. According to the study, apps launched by domestic developers accounted for about 60% of downloads by Korean users and nearly 50% of the total revenue generated by Korean users.

The App Store has also facilitated vibrant overseas expansion. Seventy-six percent of domestic developers registered on the App Store recorded downloads from countries and regions outside Korea. On average, domestic developers who generated overseas revenue did so in 30 countries. Among game developers, approximately 85% of revenue was generated by overseas users.

The number of users visiting the App Store has remained steady. Users downloading apps for Apple devices such as iPhones and iPads must do so via the App Store. Last year, nearly 12 million users visited the Korean App Store each week on average, and domestic iOS users downloaded apps more than 670 million times over the year.

Apple emphasized that in more than 90% of all transactions through the App Store, developers did not pay any commission to Apple. The company currently charges a commission only on digital goods or services sold via the App Store.

Apple CEO Tim Cook stated, "Korean developers are a prime example of the values that the App Store has aimed for from the beginning—they turn great ideas into remarkable creations and grow them into successful businesses." He added, "Apple is proud to continually support Korean developers so they can deliver their best work through the App Store and Apple’s software and hardware ecosystem."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.