76 percent of mobile app revenue comes from games.
76 percent of mobile app revenue comes from games.
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Newzoo: Smartphone users will top 3 billion in 2018, hit 3.8 billion by 2021

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 2 min

The number of smartphone users across the globe will top 3 billion in 2018, with the Asia-Pacific region accounting for more than half of that number, according to a report by market researcher Newzoo. By 2021, the number of smartphone users will pass 3.8 billion.

Of the $92.1 billion being spent on apps in 2018, 76 percent, or $69.9 billion, will be spent on mobile games. That will grow to $106.4 billion by 2021.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.