Apps are expected to generate a total of $25bn (£16.8bn) in revenue during 2013, according to forecasts from ABI Research.

Tablets will account for 35 per cent of that revenue, $8.8bn – compared to $16.4bn generated by smartphone apps. 

Over the coming years, ABI forecasts the share coming from tablets to steadily increase, to nearly match smartphone app revenues by 2017 – and surpass them in 2018. By that point, the total combined revenue from apps will hit $92bn.

“The dynamic is quite straightforward,” said ABI senior analyst Aapo Markkanen. “The larger screen makes apps and content look and feel better, so there are more lucrative opportunities. One might think that the bigger installed base of smartphones would compensate for the disparity, but that notion fails to take into account the arrival of low-cost tablets, which hasn’t even started yet at its earnest. The smartphones paved the way for them, but in the end we believe that it’s the tablets that will prove the more transformative device segment of the two.”

Across all mobile devices, iOS will make up 65 per cent of app revenue this year, with 27 per cent from Android, leaving eight per cent for other mobile platforms like BlackBerry and Windows Phone.