iPhone and iPad users were busy downloading apps at the end of 2019 leading to a record number of sales.

Apple says App Store customers spent 1.42 billion US dollars (£1.08 billion) between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, marking a 16% jump from the year before.

New Year’s Day achieved a new single-day record for the tech giant, taking 386 million dollars (£294 million), an increase of 20% over the same day in 2018.

The firm also revealed that its Apple News service draws over 100 million monthly active users in the US, UK, Australia and Canada, but did not state how many were paying for the Apple News+ subscription.

Apple’s service division – comprising of everything from Apple Music to Apple Pay – is an increasing focus as hardware sales of key products like the iPhone slowdown.

Last year the company pushed further into the service sector with the launch of its own TV and movie streaming output, Apple TV+.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and services, called 2019 “the biggest year for services in Apple’s history”.

“We introduced several exciting new experiences for our customers, all while setting the standard for user privacy and security,” he said.

“We begin the new decade with incredible momentum and gratitude to our customers who have shown such enthusiasm for all of our services, and we continue to celebrate the work of the world’s best creators, storytellers, journalists and developers.”

Jamie Harris is PA Science Technology Reporter.