Home » ChatGPT reaches new milestone: $3 billion in mobile spend in just 31 months

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20.12.2025 09:15

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ChatGPT reaches new milestone: $3 billion in mobile spend in just 31 months

According to estimates by analytics firm Appfigures, total user spending on mobile devices (iOS and Android) has exceeded $3 billion (EUR 2.56 billion). Most strikingly, the vast majority of this spending has occurred in the last year, confirming how explosively the use of generative AI has expanded.

Exceptional growth compared to other apps

In 2023, the ChatGPT mobile app generated $42.9 million, and a year later, that number grew by an incredible 1,036 % to $487 million. But 2025 was even more groundbreaking – users spent an estimated $2.48 billion on the app, a 408% increase compared to 2024.

For comparison:

ChatGPT reached $3 billion in 31 months,
TikTok took 58 months to make the same amount,
Disney+ 42 months,
HBO Max is 46 months.

Among UI applications, its closest competitor is Grok, which shows a similar growth pattern but still lags behind.

Why do users waste money?

Spending comes primarily from in-app subscription purchases, such as:

ChatGPT Plus – $20/month,
ChatGPT Pro – $200/month.

But AI-powered app monetization is becoming more widespread. OpenAI launched its own GPT store this week, which is likely to add new revenue models. The company also hints that ChatGPT could soon get ads, which would be an additional revenue stream.

Competition: everyone is fighting for dominance

Google is aggressively transforming its business models as its advertising solutions move to AI search, AI Overviews, and AI-powered shopping features. Anthropic, on the other hand, is targeting the enterprise market and is expected to generate $70 billion in revenue by 2028.

What does this mean for the future of UI applications?

ChatGPT's breakthrough revenue shows that mobile AI has become a mass product, comparable to the largest entertainment and social platforms. But at the same time, questions remain:

what portion of the revenue will be sustainable in the long term,
how users will accept advertising in UI applications,
and how competition between the largest AI providers will develop.

One thing is clear: in less than three years, ChatGPT has transformed consumer habits in a way previously reserved for the largest mobile giants. Generative AI is no longer a technology of the future, but one of the most profitable digital products of the present.