At Least 50% of Google Play Store Revenue Comes From Samsung Devices

If there is one company out there that has any chance whatsoever of competing with Apple as the foremost supplier of smartphones in the world, it’s Samsung. The only thing holding the Korean electronics juggernaut back is that it doesn’t have its own proprietary operating system, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, it is exerting enormous influence on the Android ecosystem with all things having been considered and taken into account.

The lawsuit that has been ongoing between Epic and Google has revealed some keen insights into the importance of Samsung at least in terms of Play Store revenue. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that the lawsuit revealed that Samsung accounted for at least half, if not more, of Play Store revenue back in 2019.

This comes from Google’s Vice President for Partnerships, James Kolotouros, and it’s also just the tip of the iceberg. Google agreed to pay $8 billion to Samsung over four years in order to make Play Store their default, along with Google Search and Google Assistant. This came after Google abandoned their intention to stop Samsung from placing Galaxy Store front and center. The carrot approach appears to have worked better than the stick, although it also meant that Google relied on Samsung more than might have been the case otherwise.

This also seems to suggest that Google is favoring Samsung over other OEMs. They received $2.9 billion in total back in 2020, whereas Samsung received $2 billion all on its own. Manufacturers also get a cut of Play Store revenue in order to prioritize the store, which might indicate an anti-competitive bias on Google’s part.

Manufacturers that play ball receive 20% of net basic ad revenue, 10% of net optimized ad revenue, 5% of net optimized Play transaction revenue, 15% of net premier ad revenue as well as 20% of net Play transaction revenue. The premium tier of this revenue split gives a full share of the revenue if OEMs pre-install apps offered by Google and avoid including those offered by its competitors.

It will be interesting to see where things go from here on out. Google’s relationship with OEMs is rapidly getting demystified, and many startling revelations are coming to the surface.

Photo: DIW / AI

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World