🚀 AI App Wars 2.0: Google vs. ChatGPT, the Counterattack of China's Dark Horses
Key Summary • Big Tech Showdown : Google Gemini Challenges ChatGPT's Stronghold, Chasing Second Place on the Web and Half the Mobile Market • Emergence of Chinese AI Legion : 3 of the top 20 web apps and 22 of the top 50 mobile apps are Chinese and are dominating the global market. • Accelerating the Coding Revolution : Lovable Rises to 22nd Place, Entering the Era of AI-Powered App Creation • Ecosystem overhaul : New entrants reduced to 11, clearing the line between winners and losers. • All-Star Club : 14 companies make the top list for the fifth consecutive time, emerging as true contenders in the AI market. ChatGPT ChatGPT still holds the top spot across both web and mobile, maintaining its dominant position. However, Google Gemini is threatening to overtake ChatGPT, with a 12% share of web traffic and half the number of monthly active users (MAU) on mobile. In the Chinese market in particular, access restrictions are forcing ChatGPT to cede market share to local competitors. Google Gemini Google's ambitious Gemini achieved the most notable performance in this survey. It secured a solid second-place position, second only to ChatGPT, at second place on the web and second on mobile. Notably, it secured a 90% user base on Android devices, demonstrating the power of the Google ecosystem. In addition to Gemini, Google also placed four other products in the top 50 simultaneously: AI Studio (10th), NotebookLM (13th), and Google Labs (39th), demonstrating its strong presence in the AI market. China's AI Empire The entry of Chinese companies into the global AI market is notable. Among the top 20 web developers, three companies—Quark (9th), Doubao (12th), and Kimi (17th)—all operate Chinese websites, with over 75% of their traffic coming from China. Conversely, while 22 of the 50 mobile apps were developed in China, only three are actually primarily used in China, demonstrating a clear "develop in China, export globally" strategy. In particular, Chinese companies' advantage over Western counterparts in video generation is attributed to their larger research team and relatively lax intellectual property regulations. Vibe Coding The "Vibe Coding" trend, where AI directly creates apps, is experiencing explosive growth. Lovable has soared to 22nd place on the Brinklist, and Replit has also entered the main list. According to credit card panel data, the US user cohort of a major Vibe Coding platform has demonstrated over 100% revenue retention for several months after signing up, demonstrating a sustainable business model. This means that even if users churn, overall revenue grows month-over-month due to increased usage by remaining users. Grok Grok, the AI assistant from X (formerly Twitter), has seen remarkable growth, especially on mobile. From a "cold start" in late 2024, it now boasts over 20 million monthly active users. In July, the launch of the Grok 4 model (July 9) and the introduction of AI companion avatars (July 14) led to a nearly 40% user increase. The animated avatar "Ani," which includes NSFW options, proved particularly popular upon its launch. DeepSeek DeepSeek, once a leading player in the Chinese AI craze, is experiencing a steep decline. Its web usage has fallen by more than 40% since its peak in February 2025, and its mobile usage has also declined by 22%. This suggests that, despite its initial buzz, it is struggling to maintain sustained user retention. All-Star Club The 14 "all-star" companies that have made the Web Top 50 for five consecutive years have established themselves as true winners in the AI consumer market. They cover a wide range of areas, including general assistants (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Poe), companions (Character AI), image generation (Midjourney, Leonardo), video and image editing (Veed, Cutout), voice generation (Eleven Labs), productivity tools (Photoroom, Gamma, Quillbot), and model hosting (Civitai, HuggingFace). Interestingly, only five of the 14 companies have their own foundation models, suggesting that the API-based model is more effective. They hail from five countries: the US, the UK, Australia, China, and France, and, with the exception of Midjourney, all have received venture funding.