Apple sets App Store sales record during holidays, despite disastrous quarter

In the wake of a historic stock price drop, Apple surprised investors with some good news on Thursday.

Customers helped Apple set an App Store sales record during the 2018 holiday season. This news comes just one day after the company lowered revenue expectations for its holiday quarter, resulting in a in market value.

According , App Store customers spent more than $1.22 billion on app and game downloads and subscription purchases between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

This is the most money ever spent in the App Store in a single week. In addition to the $1.22 billion record, Apple customers set a new single-day record. iPhone and iPad users spent more than $322 million on New Year’s Day.

Gaming and self-care categories took the lead in app downloads and subscriptions during the holiday week. Fortnite and PUBG were the most downloaded games over the seven-day span.

This new App Store record brought the company’s services revenue to an all-time record during the holiday season This includes services such as the App Store, iCloud, Apple Music, and Apple Pay.

The App Store’s holiday milestone provides Apple with a much needed positive story just one day after the company’s worst day in years. 

On Wednesday, Apple while CEO Tim Cook addressed investors with a letter lowering the iPhone maker’s quarterly revenue projections by $9 billion. 

Cook pointed to and the U.S.-China trade war as reasons for the company’s lowered revenue expectations. Apple stock tanked after, with the company’s falling to fourth most valuable market share behind “most valuable” position other tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.

However, this App Store news could also strengthen Apple’s defense to criticism when the company made the decision to the number of units sold for its products like the iPhone. Apple claims that total sales numbers of its hardware no longer reflect how the company is doing. The Cupertino-based company argued that because there are already so many existing iPhone users, the sales numbers for its services, such as app downloads, are a much more accurate indicator. 

With lower than expected iPhone sales cited as a reason for Apple’s fall from grace on Wednesday, the App Store’s record-breaking holiday performance may just put Apple’s argument to the test.