Usage patterns of these apps are starting to look similar to those of search engines. — Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash
This year, people have nearly doubled their spending on generative AI apps when it comes to both time and money, proving the rise of this technology’s popularity.
In the first half of 2025, GenAI apps pulled in roughly US$1.9bil (RM8bil) of in-app purchase revenue versus US$932mil (RM3.9bil) in the second half of 2024, according to a new report from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, which looks at data from Apple’s App Store and Google Play. The exponential growth in hours users spent on generative AI apps is notable as well. Users spent a whopping 15.6 billion hours using these apps in the first half of 2025 – which is about an 84 percent jump from the second half of 2024.
