Apple Music has reportedly surpassed Spotify in the number of paid subscribers to each service in the U.S. "People familiar with the matter" said that Apple Music had 28 million American subscribers in February, compared with Spotify's 26 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Neither music streaming service publicizes their exact subscription statistics, which makes the details difficult to discern, but it's estimated that including the number of people who listen to Spotify with ads, not paying for the premium version, Spotify's listenership still outstrips Apple's.
But Apple Music has "advantages" over Spotify, CNBC explained. Its app is pre-installed on iPhones, and Apple has partnered with Verizon, the largest mobile carrier in the U.S., to bundle Apple Music with certain cell phone plans. While Spotify has similar deals with Sprint and Samsung, it might not be enough to overcome Apple's numbers.
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Neither Apple nor Spotify have confirmed the numbers yet. Read more about the race between music subscription services at The Wall Street Journal.
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