Well, this is something I didn’t expect to see so soon. Google’s Gemini app actually managed to hit the number one spot on the Apple App Store last week. It’s the first time anything’s knocked ChatGPT off that perch since it launched back in—what was it, 2022? Almost three years ago.
And the weird part? It wasn’t some massive technical upgrade or a new model release. Gemini 2.5 has been out since March. From what I can tell, people just really, really wanted to make memes.
So What Changed?
Apparently, it all came down to image editing. Google tweeted last week that their new “Nano Banana” feature is one of the most popular uses for the app. They didn’t spell it out, but the timing lines up perfectly with the surge.
One prompt in particular went completely viral. It lets people turn their photos into these 3D-style collectible portraits, like little action figures still in the box. It sounds silly, but it clearly struck a chord.
Within two weeks, Gemini was sitting at the top of both the Apple and Google Play stores globally. According to Google VP Josh Woodward, the app added 23 million new users in that period. And get this—users generated over half a billion images in just a few days.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Before all this, the gap between Gemini and ChatGPT was pretty huge. Third-party data suggested ChatGPT was pulling in around 64 million monthly downloads. Gemini was at about 13 million. Traffic-wise, it wasn’t even close.
But by September 12th, Google Trends showed worldwide search interest for Gemini had actually overtaken ChatGPT. First time that’s ever happened.
And it wasn’t just a cultural moment—it moved markets. Alphabet’s market cap pushed past $3 trillion. Shares climbed about 4%. Analysts started writing notes saying this could help Google drive new subscription revenue. If Gemini stays popular, it might start looking less like a side project and more like a real part of their business.
It’s Happened Before
This isn’t exactly a new pattern. OpenAI saw something similar months ago with “Ghiblify,” a feature that turned photos into Studio Ghibli-style animations. They got a million sign-ups in one hour. It got so big they had to put rate limits in place.
Even xAI’s Grok saw a 300% spike in downloads in some markets when users realized they could generate less restricted anime-style images. It seems like whenever an AI tool stumbles into a fun, shareable use case, usage just explodes.
So where does that leave us? ChatGPT is still enormous—700 million weekly users, over a billion queries a day. But Gemini’s sudden jump shows how fast things can change. One quirky feature, a bit of luck, and the whole narrative shifts.
Google DeepMind’s CEO tweeted that this is “just the start.” Maybe. For now, it looks like people just want to make cool pictures. And maybe that’s enough.
