Alphabet’s Google Gemini app has surged to the top of global app store charts, overtaking OpenAI’s ChatGPT in mid-September and helping push Alphabet’s market capitalization beyond $3 trillion. The rally comes amid viral demand for a new image editing feature called Nano Banana, which allows users to generate collectible‑style 3D portraits from personal photos.
Nano Banana drives Gemini downloads
Within two weeks of going viral in early September, Gemini climbed to #1 on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store worldwide. According to Google’s VP of product Josh Woodward, the app has:
- Added 23 million first-time users in two weeks
- Generated more than 500 million images using Nano Banana
Image editing is one of the most popular use cases for @NanoBanana. Try using these image editing prompt templates so you can quickly get the details in your photos just right 🧵
— Google AI (@GoogleAI) September 9, 2025
(tip: bookmark this thread for future reference!)
Data from Google Trends shows that searches for Gemini surpassed ChatGPT on Sept. 12, 2025, for the first time since OpenAI’s chatbot debuted in November 2022.
Before the viral boost, Gemini averaged around 13 million monthly downloads, compared to ChatGPT’s 64 million, according to Statista.
Market impact: Alphabet joins trillion-dollar club
Alphabet stock surged 4% to around $252 per share, lifting its valuation above $3 trillion for the first time. The milestone places Alphabet among the world’s most valuable companies, alongside:
Shares of Alphabet are up nearly 30% year to date, outpacing the Nasdaq’s 15% gain. The move comes weeks after a favorable U.S. antitrust ruling that allowed Google to avoid divesting units like Chrome or Android.
Analysts weigh in
Analysts view Gemini’s viral success as more than a novelty, with potential to drive long‑term growth. Keybanc Capital’s Justin Patterson wrote in a recent note:
“If Gemini can remain at the top of the App Store charts, we believe more investors will start to view Gemini as a strong core offering with incremental use cases that complement — as opposed to cannibalize — the core search experience.”
Market watchers also predict that Gemini’s popularity could improve adoption of paid subscription tiers, adding incremental revenue for Google’s consumer AI business.
Competitive context
Despite Gemini’s surge, ChatGPT still dominates raw usage metrics, with about 700 million weekly active users and over a billion daily queries. OpenAI previously saw viral spikes from features like its “Ghiblify” animation tool in 2024.
Other AI companies have also ridden popularity waves:
- OpenAI added 1M users in an hour with its anime-inspired Ghibli filter.
- xAI’s Grok saw downloads spike 300% in Asian markets thanks to anime‑style content generation.
These case studies show how quickly viral creative features can reshape user adoption trends in the competitive AI ecosystem.
Looking ahead
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis congratulated the Gemini team on X, calling the milestone “just the start.”
Made it to no.1 in the App Store. Congrats to the @GeminiApp team for all their hard work, and this is just the start, so much more to come! https://t.co/GbSDPX64mY
— Demis Hassabis (@demishassabis) September 13, 2025
While Gemini still trails ChatGPT on long‑term engagement and traffic, its September surge highlights how viral AI features can drive mainstream adoption and investor enthusiasm.
Oleksii Shumak
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