App Store saw more than $64 billion in purchases in 2020

Apple's App Store saw at least $64 billion in gross income in 2020

CNBC analysts did the math and assuming most transactions took 30% they landed on $64 billion in gross revenue. Considering this is a conservative estimate, Apple may have seen even more revenue in 2020.

Apple doesn't report its App Store revenue directly, but offers some numbers that help analysts derive the gross revenue from rough estimates. Apple recently reported it paid developers $200 billion since 2008, which is $45 billion more than the number reported in 2020.

Friday's report is not the first on the 2020 sales in the App Store. Reports from Sensor Tower suggest Apple's App Store earned $72.3 billion in 2020.

Up until the end of December 2020 Apple took a 30% cut from all sales performed on the App Store, with some exceptions. The exception that affected most developers was the one-year subscription rule — if developers could keep a paying subscriber for a year, the cut would be reduced from 30% to 15% for that individual payment.

Apple now takes 15% from any developer who reported earnings less than $1 million dollars for the previous year. This commission cut came as Apple is embroiled in antitrust investigations and a major lawsuit with Epic Games.

Even with CNBC's estimates, Apple saw a lot of growth in App Store revenue. Using the CNBC figures, revenue grew 28% in 2020 which is up from 3.1% growth in 2019.

The ongoing pandemic has forced much of the world to stay at home and rely on digital entertainment more than ever. The growth in App Store revenue comes from increased gaming and higher subscription rates to video services throughout the year.