A groundbreaking report from Sensor Tower, a leading market intelligence firm, reveals a historic turning point in the mobile industry. In 2025, consumer spending on non-gaming applications and utilities officially surpassed mobile gaming for the first time, signaling a major evolution in digital consumer behavior.
The Rise of the "Non-Gaming" Powerhouse
The report highlights that total consumer spending in non-gaming categories surged by 21% year-over-year, reaching a staggering $85 billion. This figure is three times higher than the spending recorded just five years ago. The primary engine behind this explosive growth is the meteoric rise of Generative AI apps, which saw in-app purchase revenue triple to reach $5 billion in a single year.
The Reign of AI Assistants
AI Assistants have emerged as the industry’s "Rising Stars," dominating the global Top 10 most-downloaded apps. Leading the pack are OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and the surging newcomer DeepSeek.
ChatGPT alone generated a massive $3.4 billion in in-app purchase revenue, solidifying its position as the market leader in the AI sector.
From Hype to Daily Necessity
User engagement data paints an even more compelling picture. Consumers spent a collective 48 billion hours using Generative AI apps in 2025—a 3.6x increase from 2024 and a staggering 10x jump compared to 2023. This exponential growth in time spent proves that AI has transitioned from a niche tech trend into an indispensable part of daily life.
- While traditional apps are growing, spending on mobile games is stabilizing due to Apple's app tracking transparency regulations, which make it more difficult to target whales with targeted advertising. Conversely, AI apps are thriving through word-of-mouth and real-world usage.
- A key driver of app revenue growth is the more stable "monthly subscription" model, which is more reliable than selling in-game items. AI apps like ChatGPT and Gemini are highly successful in converting free users into paying subscribers to access their smarter models.
- Interestingly, by 2025, DeepSeek from China is projected to become the most formidable competitor to US companies due to its high-performance yet significantly cheaper model, sparking a price war in the AI mobile app market.
- The report indicates that consumers are more willing to pay for productivity and problem-solving benefits than for mere entertainment.
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