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Homehow it worksChatGPT mobile app surges past $2 billion in consumer spending, leaving rivals in the dustChatGPT’s mobile app has surged past $2 billion in consumer spending, vastly outperforming rivals like Claude and Grok as it dominates both downloads and revenue in 2025.
By Storyboard18| Aug 16, 2025 9:44 AM
Since its debut in May 2023, the ChatGPT mobile app has amassed $2 billion in global consumer spending across iOS and Android devices, according to newly released data from Appfigures, cited by TechCrunch — a figure that underscores the software’s extraordinary dominance in the paid AI app market.
If anything, the pace has accelerated in 2025. Consumer spending on the app has jumped 673 percent compared with the same period a year ago. The surge in popularity has been accompanied by a spike in downloads: ChatGPT has been installed 318 million times so far this year, roughly 2.8 times the number of installs during the same period in 2024.
India accounts for the highest share of lifetime installs at 13.7 percent, followed by the United States at 10.3 percent. But Americans remain ChatGPT’s most lucrative user base, contributing nearly 40 percent of the app’s global revenue, with average spending per download in the United States topping $10. By contrast, users in Germany spend only about 5.3 percent as much.
On a per-user basis, ChatGPT remains well ahead of the competition globally, generating $2.91 in lifetime revenue per install. Anthropic’s Claude follows at $2.55. Grok, developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, averages just $0.75, while Microsoft’s Copilot app trails the pack at $0.27.
Analysts say Grok’s sluggish performance may be tied to its relatively late entrance to the mobile market. Although xAI introduced Grok in November 2023, its standalone iOS app didn’t launch until January 2025, with Android support arriving in March — a delay that likely hampered its ability to catch up with incumbents. The timing may also cast Musk’s recent remarks in a new light. Days ago, he accused Apple of favoring OpenAI and claimed it was “impossible” for competitors to top App Store charts. Ironically, Grok — using its own AI — publicly contradicted that assertion.
Appfigures’ latest data suggests that such frustration may stem not just from app store dynamics, but from an enormous performance gap. In 2025 alone, ChatGPT has generated $1.35 billion in mobile revenue — roughly 53 times Grok’s $25.6 million.
First Published on Aug 16, 2025 9:40 AM
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