Following the news that iPhone sales were down during the month of December leading Apple to cut its guidance for Q1 2019, the company is aiming to soften the blow with some positive news.
Apple today announced that App Store customers set new worldwide spending records over the holidays, with App Store purchases hitting $1.22 billion between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
On New Year's Day specifically, customers spent over $322 million on App Store purchases, setting a new single-day record.
"The App Store had a record-breaking holiday week and New Year's Day. The holiday week was our biggest week ever with more than $1.22 billion spent on apps and games, and New Year's Day set a new single-day record at more than $322 million," said Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "Thanks to the inspiring work of our talented developers and the support of our incredible customers around the world, the App Store finished off an outstanding 2018 and kicked off 2019 with a bang."
Gaming and self-care were the most popular app downloads and purchases during the holidays. Fortnite and PUBG were some of the most downloaded games over the holiday period, along with Brawl Stars, Asphalt 9, and Monster Strike.
According to Apple, the App Store drove its services category revenue to a new all-time record during the holiday quarter, with multiple Apple services that include the App Store, Apple Music, Cloud Services, Apple Pay and the App Store's search ad business setting new records.
With Apple selling fewer iPhones, the company is hoping investors will shift focus to other areas of its business. Apple in November said that it will no longer provide unit sales data for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, but yesterday said other information, such as gross margin of services, will be provided.
