Japan App Market Statistics (2024)

Louise Wylie

Updated: November 5, 2024

The Japanese app market is one of the most lucrative and active in the world. It has the third highest country consumer spend, behind only China and the United States, and the number of smartphone users continues to rise. Japanese users also spend over 4.5 hours on average a day using mobile apps, which has increased significantly since the pandemic.

Mobile games are a dominant source of revenue in the Japanese market. Monster Strike has been one of the highest earning apps in the country since its release 10 years ago, and other games including Fate/Grand Order and Dragon Quest Walk have had incredible success.

In comparison to a lot of other app economies, Japan's is quite insular and a lot of the games and apps are designed for Japanese users. Companies such as Rakuten, Line, and PayPay have strong market share in the country but have failed to expand outside of it.

Analysts predict strong growth in the e-commerce sector, as cashless purchasing is adopted by an increasing number of the population. There is the potential for competition from international businesses such as Amazon to the established domestic companies, including Rakuten and Mercari.

The Japanese economy is experiencing a downturn, and so apps which provide good value-for-money deals are growing in popularity.

We have collected data and statistics on the Japan mobile app market. Read on below to find out more.

Key Japan App Market Statistics

  • The Japanese app market generated $17.9 billion in 2023, a slight increase but still down on the 2021 figure
  • Comic book app Piccoma was the top grossing app in the country with over $500 million consumer spend
  • There were 98 million smartphone users in Japan in 2023
  • Apps were downloaded 2.5 billion times in 2023, fewer than in 2020 and 2021
  • Japanese users spent 57 billion hours on mobile apps in 2023