Consumers Spent $1 Billion On AI-Powered Apps In 2024
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The tech industry has chosen artificial intelligence as the basis of its developments to grow in the short, medium, and long term. This has led to dozens of new services and apps with incredible AI-powered capabilities. In the mobile segment, Google and Samsung have been pioneers in the heavy implementation of this technology. According to a new report, AI helped to greatly increase consumer spending on apps in 2024.
App consumer spending reached $1 billion in 2024 thanks to AI
People are apparently becoming more comfortable with using AI. AI-enabled features can be so useful and fun that many already consider them essential for their daily or occasional use. Image and video editors are often a good example of apps with AI features that are popular with the public. The technology allows complex changes to be applied in a few taps. They also can convert existing images or photos into different styles in a few seconds.
That said, AI costs money, and most of these apps offer limited free trials of their most advanced options. If you want to increase your usage limit, you’ll have to pay a fee. Sensor Tower’s latest “State of Mobile” report says that users are becoming more willing to pay for apps if they have AI-powered features.
The market research firm’s report found that AI features helped boost app spending to $150 billion by 2024. This represents a 13% year-on-year increase. The study says that interest in AI-powered apps rose sharply last year. AI apps like ChatGPT, Gemini, and ByteDance’s Doubao—among others—drove consumer spending on apps up 200% year-over-year. In total, these types of apps took $1.1 billion out of users’ wallets in 2024.
AI apps were used for 7.7 billion hours last year; 17 billion downloads
Last year, consumers used AI apps for nearly 7.7 billion hours and downloaded them about 17 billion times. Sensor Tower says that at this rate, AI apps will quickly move into the top 10 for annual consumer spending.
So, all signs point to a growing demand for AI-powered apps. ChatGPT, a pioneer in the segment, reached 50 million monthly active users. Most impressively, it did so faster than services like Temu, Disney+, or YouTube Music.
