The Google Gemini app has ascended to the top of the App Store rankings, displacing ChatGPT for the first time in nearly three years.
Wow, $GOOGL Gemini has overtaken ChatGPT in top downloads in the US on iOS.
Something to keep an eye on as ChatGPT has dominated the standings for months now.$GOOGL execution and product shipment showing results… pic.twitter.com/Qg4wTmeT09
— Rihard Jarc (@RihardJarc) September 13, 2025
The surge in popularity is attributed to Nano Banana, an internal tool for editing and generating images.
The model allows users to upload their own photos and alter elements such as background, clothing, hairstyle, and pose using prompts. One popular use case is transforming photos of people or animals into 3D figurines.
From photo to figurine style in just one prompt.
People are having fun turning their photos into images of custom miniature figures, thanks to nano-banana in Gemini. Try a pic of yourself, a cool nature shot, a family photo, or a shot of your pup.
Here’s how to make your own 🧵 pic.twitter.com/e3s1jrlbdT
— Google Gemini App (@GeminiApp) September 1, 2025
Nano Banana has become a viral sensation, with users flocking to test the service. Google Vice President Josh Woodward reported that the app attracted 23 million new users and generated over 500 million images in a short period.
Update: In the last 4 days, @GeminiApp has added:
+ 13M more first-time users (23M+ total now)
+ 300M more images (500M+ total now)🍌 @NanoBanana is unreal
— Josh Woodward (@joshwoodward) September 8, 2025
The digital figurines resemble collectible models at a 1:7 scale on clear acrylic stands. They are often displayed alongside packaging boxes and computer screens with open 3D modeling software.
Artificial intelligence captures facial features, clothing details, and poses with high precision.
Joining the trend a little late. #NanoBanana pic.twitter.com/VwLVxJOHFm
— Scarlet Heart 🐬 (@_Saffron_Girl_) September 10, 2025
Nano Banana is the third major trend in AI portraits for 2025. In March, GPT-4o from ChatGPT sparked a wave in Studio Ghibli style.
In April, the Barbie Box challenge emerged, where people transformed into plastic dolls in packaging with accessories like miniature laptops and coffee mugs.
Other tools are available for creating new trendy images. Seedream4 from Alibaba, released shortly after Google’s model, delivers comparable quality results and sometimes even better consistency with complex poses.
Flux Kontext offers an open-source solution with no content restrictions.
Back in August, Google released a series of Pixel 10 smartphones, focusing on artificial intelligence technologies.