Google Gemini Surges Past ChatGPT On App Charts

In a significant shift in the artificial intelligence landscape, Google's Gemini app has climbed to the top of the Apple App Store, overtaking OpenAI's ChatGPT in the highly competitive free apps category. This success is largely driven by a viral social media trend, highlighting how quickly user engagement can reshape the AI market.

This milestone for Google's parent company, Alphabet, comes on the heels of other major financial achievements. The tech giant recently surpassed a $3 trillion market capitalization, and its GOOGL stock has seen gains of over 30% year-to-date, reflecting robust investor confidence.

The Viral Trend Fueling Gemini's Rise

Gemini now holds the number one position on Apple’s top free app charts in the United States, pushing ahead of both OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Meta’s Threads. Its popularity extends overseas, where it also leads the charts in the UK, outranking ChatGPT and the popular shopping app Temu.

The engine behind this explosive growth is the "Nano Banana" trend, powered by the Gemini 2.5 Flash Image model. Launched in late August, this feature went viral by allowing users to transform their photos into stylized 3D figurine portraits. The results have been staggering, with users generating over 500 million images and the app attracting 23 million new users in just two weeks.

AI App Competition Heats Up

The strategy of using engaging, shareable image generation to drive adoption is not new. The Nano Banana trend echoes earlier viral phenomena, such as the Ghibli-style art craze that helped propel ChatGPT's initial growth.

Gemini's ascent underscores the intense and rising competition among major tech players in the AI app space. As companies like OpenAI, Meta, and other startups enhance their AI offerings, from image creation to advanced chat functions, the race to capture and retain user attention is heating up.

Market Reaction and Analyst Outlook

This viral success has not gone unnoticed by market analysts. KeyBanc's five-star analyst Justin Patterson noted that if Gemini can maintain its top position, investors may increasingly view it as a core product that enhances Google’s primary search business rather than a standalone experiment. Patterson maintains a Buy rating on GOOGL stock with a price target of $265.

Overall, Wall Street sentiment remains positive. According to TipRanks, GOOGL stock holds a Strong Buy consensus rating, based on 29 Buys and nine Holds from analysts in the past three months. The average price target is set at $236.85.