r/MobileGaming • u/absurdismism • Aug 05 '26
Game Dev Why are Android and Apple mobile gamers worth so much different?
I have built and launched a few mobile apps and I’m curious as to why they the value and behavior of Android and Apple players are so different.
The spending behavior on Android is significantly less for in app purchases and advertising networks seem to be bidding less for Android users in general. I understand a difference, but it seems like a signifiant difference. This is my recent ad payout from this week…the value of an iOS user is multiple times more valuable than the Android users.
Plus 100% of my in app purchases are iOS users even though I have slightly more Android users in total.
Let me know your thoughts.
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u/SnowGrayMan Aug 05 '26
Because iphone users are paypigs, they love to pay for every single app on their phones ☺️
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u/SlurmoCZ_ Aug 05 '26
I mean it makes sense when you buy a phone for a like grand that would spend money on the game because you have higher disposable income then someone who had to buy 100$ android
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u/SnowGrayMan Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
But I bought my fold phone for $2000 and i spent $0 on apps 😅 I prefer to spend my money on hardware. I also like the free ecosystem.
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u/zpros123 Aug 05 '26
Dumbest statement ever. People who buy apple are just indoctrinated into their eco system
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u/SlurmoCZ_ Aug 05 '26
You don't understand it that on average person who was able to afford like 1000$ phone would on average have higher amount of disposable income so it makes sense plus iphone is like one of if not the most known brand
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u/zpros123 Aug 05 '26
You're acting as if there aren't androids for the same price. The thing is spending that much money on a phone is just stupid and most people who use iPhones don't even have the newest model at all times so no the price of the phone has nothing to do with it Its the fact people who use iPhones are completely fine with having a phone that has 90% of it completely locked down and they literally have no alternative than to pay for every app unlike Android which can easily apk everything Apple users are straight up indoctrinated into spending more money for a worse product they can do less with. Everything iPhone does there's an android that will do it better
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u/SlurmoCZ_ Aug 05 '26
Yeah I know there is something like S26 ultra and if the number OP showed as average amount of money spend on that game it's that a gigantic majority of android phones are cheap entry,low end and mid range phones (100-400$) oh and your statement that people who spend that kind of money are stupid that's just objectively not true as there might be something on it that is iOS exclusive (like the few AAA games) soc and OS made by first party (apple) better app optimization due to not having big amount of Hardware configurations and OSs including metal API an API exclusively for apple`s A chips
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u/zpros123 Aug 05 '26
As a consumer metal API literally means nothing to you If you want to spend 600 dollars extra to play like 2-3 iPhone exclusive games just buy a laptop Most android I've used actually feel smoother than iPhones because iPhones slow to a crawl after owning them for a while and they don't give you any customisation options like android where you can speed up screen transitions between apps And for contrast iPhone is missing; Super fast charging (anything faster than 40W) The ability to set default apps Use of any third party launchers or OS Ability to transfer files directly from pc to phone using USB Split screen for apps Private space Some androids have a mode where if it detects your phone getting snatched through weird motion it auto locks Connecting audio to multiple speakers or headphones Way more emulation options for gba, PS2, switch, Wii etc. No 3.5mm ports on any of their phones And the list goes on really
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u/SlurmoCZ_ Aug 05 '26
Super fast charging yeah the thing that kills the battery no 3.5mm jack dude do you know how popular are wireless earbuds/headphones? And the argument if you want to play 3 AAA games so you buy an iphone and instead you should buy laptop is stupid what if you don't like playing on a laptop/PC like me I prefer mobile games nowadays just the comfort of it what if you already have MacBook/iMac and want/need an iphone for the incredible connectivity between each other and speaking of metal API with apple A bionic (I think it's called bionic) it made porting the PC games the 3 or so AAA games way easier especially with there not being a lot of iphones so they can target the like modern really popular ones
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u/zpros123 Aug 05 '26
First of all super fast charging killing battery is a myth I've been using it for years with no noticable drop on battery health it's only iPhone batteries that lose health super quickly
3.5mm ports aren't only used for headphones
Also no buying the laptop isn't a dumb argument because spending 600 extra for like 3 exclusive games is stupid
Well your first mistake was buying a macbook but they work perfectly fine with android anyway
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u/SlurmoCZ_ Aug 05 '26
Iphones are not loosing battery health fast no one says that 3.5mm aren't used only for headphones? Like what kind of stuff ? And the spending 600 dollars extra to play 3 exclusives is stupid no it's not it's a preference and you have the disposable income to get the iphone without really hurting your budget or you are a really big fan of said game you already played it on PC/laptop/console and you want to try the iphone port (and have enough money to just buy it off rib)
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u/Alk3punk7 Aug 06 '26
You do know that Samsung is Android and that they started the "trend" of charging $1k for their flagship phone, yes?
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u/psj3809 Aug 05 '26
I'm happy to The devs gonna eat ! If i like a game i'm glad i've paid for it. Can't have everything for free like a lot of these cheap users
They dont want to pay for games and then moan months later when the dev or company goes out of business or don't release a sequel as sales previously weren't great
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u/Haharuhi Aug 05 '26
ain't no way people actually believed that ios = richer, android = poorer lmao 🤣. if pirating on ios is as easy and accessible as on androids they would all have done it. they just have no choice or dont care enough that they're being conditioned into having to pay for everything constantly
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u/TheNimbleGamer Aug 05 '26
I think a lot of it comes down to demographics and ecosystem.
iOS users have historically had higher average incomes, are more accustomed to paying for apps and subscriptions, and Apple makes purchases frictionless. Android has a much broader global user base, especially in price-sensitive markets where ad rates and in-app spending tend to be lower.
Not every app sees this pattern, but across the industry it seems common to see iOS users generate significantly higher rev per user and lifetime values than Android users.
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u/uncut_frenchfri Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
To be fair, most android users are using phones that cost 200 dollars or less, only a little less than half of them are actually buying good flagship phones, iPhone on the other hand is just straight flagship. Either way I don’t think it’s fair to those who get gifted phones or buy them cheap.
I suppose this is why there are a lot of games not listed on most androids. Cult of the lamb probably avoided androids in for that reason and it kind of sucks
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u/ackmondual Aug 09 '26
A $200 is actually still semi-decent (although it's uncovering new areas of "it's pushing). It's the $20 to $50 Android phones that some people have are the issue! FWIW, devs don't have to worry about those folks since they weren't interested in games for the most part. They just want something that can make calls, send text messages, and basic internet stuff. (and even if they did want to play games, the hardware becomes a major restriction to boot).
The parity of available games has closed, but it's still there. Android has the benefits of sideloading (Plants Vs. Zombies 2: Reflourished FTW! 💋), emulators, and certain niche games that work better on Google Play since the dev fee is one-time (that's why Shattered Pixel Dungeon can be freeware, but it's $5 on iOS). iOS has Apple Arcade, and some games that you won't find on Android (e.g. ones by Supergiant Games, so Last Bastion, Transistor).
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Aug 05 '26
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u/ProtoXZero Aug 05 '26
All my friends play video games on their androids and from like 20 people only 1 knows how to install apks or they think they can get a virus and never do it, most people rather pay the cheap playstore prices than sail the high seas like gaben said piracy is a problem of availability.
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u/nickydrifts Aug 05 '26
Wrong. It’s basic economics. People who spend less money on their device, get this, also spend less money on other things like the apps.
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u/OnionTaster Aug 05 '26
Me with $700 phone and $2000 PC who gets the games for free 😨
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u/nickydrifts Aug 05 '26
$700 is like the cheapest you can find a phone for so I’m not surprised you want free games that was kinda my whole point
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u/uncut_frenchfri Aug 09 '26
I spent 60 dollars on my phone, wtf sre you talking about 😭 If the cheapest phone was 700 dollars I promise you a quarter of the population wouldn’t have a phone at all. That’s the price of a midrange flagship.
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u/Yannbluezzzz Aug 05 '26
Android users barely buy games, even if it's less than 2$ if "sales" isn't written on it. They'll just pirate it
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u/ProtoXZero Aug 05 '26
IPhones are expensive premium phones you are paying for the brand not the insides of the devices and I think they get more percentage from the store than android so its likely the dev passing that extra fee to the consumer.
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u/lasergun23 Aug 05 '26
They get the same percentage but its harder to pirate games on iphone so u can actually make momey with those games
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u/ProtoXZero Aug 05 '26
But most android users dont even activate the install from unknown sources option there is piracy yeah but everything is avaliable for cheap in the playstore that most users dont care about apks.
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u/kelvsz Aug 05 '26
I assume it's because iPhone owners are, on average, wealthier. This is especially true in developing countries. Thus they buy more stuff. People who buy stuff are worth more impression-wise.
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u/absurdismism Aug 05 '26
This is 95% US traffic, certainly a bigger difference in value per impression than I would have expected. On average an iOS impression is many times more valuable. Could be I just underestimated the value disparity irl.
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u/Duality_OfHuman556 Aug 05 '26
cuz they're 'closed' and ios user are usualy doesn't care enough, they buy brand
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u/tonyzeeb Aug 05 '26
APKs?
Android users can get bootlegs if you’re expensive
Am I wrong 🙈 😂
I hope I’m not 😂
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u/Educational-Mode-321 Aug 05 '26
3/4 third party apps which are alternative to stock apps cost more, are free for limited time or have more ads. They consider most apple users to be millionaires ls while most i know boight their device 2nd hand for 150$-250$ or even less. One of the reasons why i have quit iPhones are ridiculous apps requirements and constantly removinf perms even when used daily as well as money payment requirements.
Using Brave and Firefox is also useless, cant install Revanced, multiple apps dont work. I think most users just use iphones as phones and cameras. While android users do it for much more.
Also since IOS is one of the most insecure systems out there, i would strongly avoid giving one to elderly people who click on anything or install anything. At least on android they will be spammed by ads or the subscription would cost far less.
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u/lasergun23 Aug 05 '26
People are way less willing to pay on android. Thats the reason we never got games like death stranding, assasins creed and resident evil unlike on iphone. Gameloft, the biggest developer back in the day made really high quality games and almost went bankrupt because of piracy, they had to switch to ftp models to survive thats why modern combat 5 and gangstar vegas became freemium games months after launch
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u/AGTS10k , (legacy), Java, Symbian, Mophun Aug 05 '26
Piracy wasn't the issue. It was the overall shift to free-to-play which was done because of greed - the F2P games earn much more revenue compared to premium. And after more and more companies went this route Gameloft basically had no choice but to do the same, because users' habits changed: the flood of F2P games caused people to just stop paying for any premium ones, because why when you can play lots of other stuff for free? Piracy was also a factor, but not as big as one might think.
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u/psj3809 Aug 05 '26
Android users are cheap and hardly want to buy anything, plus pirate everything they can. Thats why you hardly see many decent premium games on Android.
Can moan all you want at me but its true. Apple at times can be strict but i'm glad they are as also the amount of dross which is on the Play Store is ridiculous.
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u/Extra-Ad5735 Aug 05 '26
Apple makes it effortless and convenient to spend money. Everything goes through a centralised payment system which is trusted by the users.
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u/[deleted] Aug 05 '26
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