The Kaipher Editorial Team 
Google’s Gemini app has claimed the top spot on Apple’s App Store for the first time, overtaking ChatGPT and capitalizing on the explosive success of its “Nano Banana” AI image generation feature. As of Friday evening, Gemini sits at number 1 on Apple’s Top Free Apps chart for the US, with ChatGPT falling to second place and Meta’s Threads in third position.
The milestone marks a significant achievement in the intensifying competition between Google and OpenAI for AI dominance, driven largely by the viral popularity of Gemini’s advanced image editing capabilities.
Nano Banana Drives Unprecedented Growth
The feature’s unprecedented popularity has generated over 500 million images since its late August launch and brought 23 million new users to the platform from August 26 to September 9 alone (9to5Google). Behind the playful nickname lies Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, an advanced AI model that transforms ordinary photos into hyper-realistic 3D figurines using simple text prompts like “Create a 1/7 scale commercialized figurine of the characters in the picture, in a realistic style, in a real environment.”
What sets this tool apart is its accessibility—users need no technical expertise or payment to create professional-quality results in seconds. The AI excels at maintaining character consistency across edits, blending multiple images seamlessly, and producing figurines complete with transparent acrylic bases and realistic packaging mockups that rival expensive custom collectibles (Times of India).
App Store Rankings Shift Dramatically
Current rankings show Gemini has secured the number one position across multiple categories, pushing ChatGPT to second place for the first time since ChatGPT’s 2022 launch. This represents Google’s first victory at the top of Apple’s platform, following similar success patterns seen with previous viral AI trends. The Google app ranks 6th, with Google Maps at 8th, Chrome at 13th, and Gmail at 21st, showing Google’s broader ecosystem strength.
Industry observers attribute this rapid ascent to the combination of Nano Banana’s capabilities and Google’s marketing push, including hackathons and social media campaigns featuring banana emoji teasers from executives like CEO Sundar Pichai.
Competitive Landscape Intensifies
This development signals a potential shift in the AI chatbot market, where ChatGPT has maintained dominance since its 2022 launch. While ChatGPT still leads in overall market share at approximately 60% compared to Gemini’s 13.5%, Google’s mobile momentum suggests changing user preferences, particularly on Android devices where nearly 90% of Gemini users are concentrated.
The success of Nano Banana follows Google’s broader strategy to differentiate Gemini through multimodal capabilities and seamless integration with Google services. Free users can generate or edit up to 100 images per day, while subscribers get 1,000 daily generations for $19.99+ per month, making advanced AI editing accessible to mainstream users for the first time.
