Image model releases are driving AI mobile app growth, generating 6.5x more downloads than traditional model updates, according to a new report from app intelligence provider Appfigures.
This marks a change from days past, when the launch of new models that enhance chat experiences drove higher demand, alongside new features such as the voice chat interface.
For example, ChatGPT and Gemini added tens of millions of new downloads after launching their respective image models, Appfigures I establish.
For Google’s Gemini, the release of the Nano Banana image model led to an additional 22+ million downloads in 28 days after the launch of the Gemini 2.5 Flash image model last August. This release increased the app’s downloads by more than 4 times during that period, the data showed.
Meanwhile, ChatGPT added more than 12 million incremental installs in 28 days after the launch of the GPT-4o image model in March last year. That’s about 4.5 times more downloads than it saw for the GPT-4o, GPT-4.5, and GPT-5 model releases, Appfigures noted.
Other model releases followed similar trends, albeit on a smaller scale. Meta AI’s introduction of Vibes artificial intelligence video streaming added an estimated 2.6 million incremental downloads in the 28 days since its launch in September 2025. (Yes, technically, this is a video model, but it’s ultimately about visual content, not just text.)
However, the report cautioned that additional downloads do not always translate into increased mobile revenue.
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Instead, new image model releases give users a reason to install the app and try out the improved image creation capabilities. That doesn’t mean they will necessarily convert to paying subscribers. For example, Appfigures noted that Nano Banana only drove $181,000 in estimated gross consumer spend during the 28-day window after its launch, even though it generated a larger increase in downloads than the 4o image model version of ChatGPT.
Meta AI’s launch of Vibes also resulted in additional downloads, but no substantial revenue.
Among the three, only ChatGPT turned increased attention into actual dollars.
OpenAI’s 4o imaging model drove an estimated $70 million in gross consumer spending in the 28 days after launch, compared to its previous baseline, Appfigures reported.
The firm also looked at DeepSeek in its analysis, but it didn’t fit the pattern.
While the DeepSeek R1 had 28 million downloads after its January 2025 launch, it wasn’t a typical model comparison event. This was DeepSeek’s first moment, when it went from a relative unknown to an overnight sensation as the tech industry learned about the techniques it used to train AI models at a fraction of the cost of its competitors. This case highlights how curiosity can lead to downloads — although in this case, the interest was not linked to an image model.
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