2025 Sees Surge in Mobile App Spending, Outpacing Games Due to AI Adoption

By January 21, 2026January 23, 2026

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In 2025, a pivotal shift occurred in the mobile app industry: for the first time, consumer spending on non-game mobile applications surpassed that on games. According to Sensor Tower’s latest "State of Mobile" report, this trend, which had previously been observed in specific markets like the U.S., finally emerged on a global scale. An astounding $85 billion was spent on apps worldwide last year—an impressive 21% increase from the previous year and nearly three times what consumers spent just five years prior.

The AI Boom

One key driver behind this remarkable growth was the rise of generative AI. In 2025, revenue from in-app purchases in the AI category surged, more than tripling to over $5 billion. The downloads of AI apps exploded as well, doubling year-over-year to an impressive 3.8 billion.

Factors Influencing Growth

Several factors contributed to the growing popularity of AI apps:

Consumer Preference: The demand for AI assistants surged, making them the top downloaded applications. Leading names such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and DeepSeek topped the list.
Financial Success: ChatGPT alone generated a remarkable $3.4 billion in global in-app purchase revenue, a figure we previously reported on.

In 2025, users accumulated 48 billion hours on generative AI apps, marking a staggering 3.6 times the total time spent in 2024. The number of sessions also exploded, surpassing 1 trillion, indicating that existing users are becoming more engaged at a faster rate than new users are joining.

Big Tech’s Investment

Major tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, and X, have heavily invested in enhancing their AI assistants to compete with ChatGPT. These companies have rapidly rolled out new features aimed at improving accuracy in tasks ranging from content generation to coding support. Notably, improvements in image and video generation capabilities have attracted attention, such as ChatGPT’s GPT-4o model introduced earlier this year.

The Mobile Connection

According to Sensor Tower, the number of users engaging with AI assistants surpassed 200 million in the U.S., with more than half relying exclusively on mobile devices. In contrast, the previous year saw only 13 million mobile-only users.

Beyond AI assistants, other thriving apps include:

Suno: An AI music generation app.
Jimeng AI: By ByteDance, focused on text-to-video capabilities.
Character.ai and Polybuzz: Popular AI companion applications.

However, the AI surge wasn’t the sole driver of app revenues. Other genres, such as social media, video streaming, and productivity apps, also played significant roles in this growth. For instance, consumers averaged 90 minutes daily on social media platforms, amassing nearly 2.5 trillion hours—a 5% year-over-year increase.

As we look ahead, it’s clear that the mobile landscape is continuously evolving. This growth in app spending not only reflects changing consumer preferences but also highlights the vital role of technology in our daily lives. Are you ready to explore the myriad possibilities these innovations bring? Discover how mobile technology can enhance your life today!