India's mobile app market took $345 million in in-app purchase revenue between April and June, the highest quarterly figure the country has posted, and it did so in the same three months that Counterpoint Research measured a 10 per cent fall in smartphone shipments. Sensor Tower's Q2 2026 report puts spending up 35 per cent year on year across 6.6 billion downloads, the busiest quarter for installs since January 2024.Both figures belong to the same story. India spent more on apps this quarter because the phones already in circulation started paying their way, with AI subscriptions, one-minute drama serials and anime streaming doing the collecting. Q1 had already set a record at more than $300 million. Two quarters on the trot now point the same direction, which makes this a pattern and takes it out of spike territory.About The AuthorAt heart, I am a storyteller drawn to the watershed moments that bend the technology landscape. I braid narrative with data, humanise statistics, and trace the arc from first spark to world-changing impact. My reportage, features and reviews are witty, sardonic, visual and vivid, using anecdote to illuminate rather than eviscerate.
As a technology journalist with over sixteen years of experience, I have travelled the world and the seven seas, covered every major tech conference worth its lanyard, chronicled the defining breakthroughs of the last decade and a half, and played a pivotal role in launching some of India’s most important technology publishing platforms across web, print and TV.
