iOS App Store shrinks as number of new apps falls for first time ever

The iOS App Store has started to shrink, with the number of apps on Apple's mobile marketplace falling to 2.1 million in 2017 from 2.2 million in 2016.

As reported by analytics outfit AppFigures, that five percent decline was partly the result of Apple's stricter enforcement of its review guidelines, as well as some technical changes that eliminated many older apps that didn't support 64-bit architecture. 

Perhaps more notably, it was also caused by a lack of fresh software, with the number of new apps hitting the App Store falling by 29 percent year-over-year to 755,000 -- the first drop since the App Store launched in 2008.

Both the App Store and Google Play store had been experiencing consistent growth until now, and while Apple's marketplace took a hit, Google's continued to surge upwards, growing by a rate of 30 percent to more than 3.6 million apps. 

The number of new apps hitting the Google Play store also rose in 2017, with Google Play developers launching 1.5 million new apps throughout the year -- an increase of around 17 percent year-over-year.