Google Notes Vietnam as Asia-Pacific's Fastest-Growing App Market

• Vietnam is becoming a top app exporter in the Asia-Pacific region, according to Google.
• Apps created by Vietnamese developers have been downloaded over a billion times.
• Google helps to navigate local regulations in Vietnam, but has no plans to launch a data center there.

Google projects a strong increase in mobile game and app usage, with the global market expected to reach $750 billion by 2030. The business identifies the Asia-Pacific area as a key development driver, pointing out that during the first three quarters of 2025, in-app transactions in emerging APAC economies increased by 5% annually.

Google Apps Summit in Ho Chi Minh City highlighted South Korea's massive multiplayer games, Japanese-branded hits like Pokémon Go, Vietnam's hyper-casual games, and Indonesia's cutting-edge vertical-video apps. Meanwhile, mature markets in the West like the U.S. have recorded a shrinkage of 3%.

Google Says Vietnam Reigns the APAC Region

As per AppMagic data shared in the Google summit, Vietnam became the fastest-growing market in Asia-Pacific with 65% annualized app and gaming revenue growth in the initial quarters of 2025. Vietnam created games like Axie Infinity and Flappy Bird, which also contributed to the growth.

Marc Woo, the managing director of Google Vietnam, referred to the nation as "a global app powerhouse," highlighting its quickly expanding significance.

As per data from Google, Vietnamese developers' apps were downloaded over 6B times in 2024. While 5.7B of those downloads, roughly 12,000 every minute, came from abroad. These downloads generated approximately VND 2 trillion, about $75.9M USD, in export earnings from Google Play alone. Additionally, an estimated 490,000 jobs in hardware, advertising, and production were supported by the activity. 

Platform Neutrality Amid Fragmented Market

Aditya Swamy, MD of Google Play, advocated for platform neutrality and said, "We encourage developers to build for all devices … that’s when they can tap into the maximum number of users." 

He further observed that in more "homogeneous" regions, developers can decide to concentrate just on one operating system (like Android, iOS). However, emerging markets such as Vietnam are typically more fragmented. 

Noting this, Counterpoint says that Samsung and Xiaomi are more popular in Vietnam, but as per Statista, Japanese tend to use iPhones more, thus creating a “homogeneous” market.

Google Apps Summit: AI Use, Non-Gaming Apps & New Monetization Pathways

A major focus of the summit was artificial intelligence. According to Google, 90% of game developers worldwide now use AI in some way, including for asset testing and code review using programs like Google AI Studio and Gemini API.

Targeting Gen Z, who are expected to become the wealthiest app users by 2030, was another strategic shift that Google suggested.

In the meantime, non-gaming applications like chatbots, fitness, and health are becoming more popular. According to reports, developers in Vietnam are switching from hyper-casual ad-driven games to hybrid monetization models that combine advertising and in-app purchases.

What’s Next for Vietnam?

When taken together, the increase in downloads, export earnings, and employment base demonstrates how rapidly Vietnam's app sector is expanding overseas. However, how successfully developers handle stricter domestic constraints and changing platform norms internationally will determine the sector's next stage.

Google is making an effort to close that gap. In order to assist developers in adhering to governmental regulations, it has been providing policy-aligned training in Hanoi. However, the business claims that it is still "not ready" to construct a data center in Vietnam. It still depends on its current facilities in Malaysia and Thailand for the time being.