Google Gemini 3: 750M Users and the Apple Partnership

Mark Neal

08 Feb 2026 — 9 min read

Google's AI chatbot Gemini has crossed a remarkable threshold, surpassing 750 million monthly active users in the fourth quarter of 2025. This milestone represents a dramatic acceleration in adoption, with the platform adding 100 million users in just three months - jumping from 650 million in the previous quarter. The surge coincides with the December 2025 launch of Gemini 3, Google's most advanced AI model to date, which CEO Sundar Pichai identified as a "positive driver" for user engagement across the company's ecosystem.

The growth trajectory positions Gemini as the second-most-used consumer AI product globally, trailing only OpenAI's ChatGPT, which held an estimated 810 million monthly active users in late 2025. Gemini has decisively overtaken Meta AI, which reported approximately 500 million monthly users during the same period. This rapid expansion reflects Google's strategic advantage: deep integration across its vast product ecosystem, including Search, Gmail, Google Docs, Android devices, and Chrome browsers.

Perhaps most significantly, Google announced a multi-year partnership with Apple in January 2026 that will see Gemini models power future Apple Intelligence features, including a reimagined version of Siri. This collaboration marks a pivotal moment in the AI industry, bringing together two tech giants with complementary strengths and positioning Gemini at the heart of billions of devices worldwide.

The Gemini 3 Launch and Its Impact

Gemini 3 represents Google's most sophisticated AI model release, delivering what the company describes as unprecedented depth and nuance in responses. The model's capabilities extend beyond simple text generation, processing multimodal inputs across text, images, audio, and video through Google's custom Tensor Processing Units and global data center infrastructure.

The launch timing proved critical. Released in December 2025, Gemini 3 arrived as competition in the AI chatbot space intensified. The model's enhanced performance directly contributed to the 15% quarterly growth rate in monthly active users, demonstrating that technical improvements can translate into measurable user adoption. CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized during Alphabet's earnings call that continued investment and rapid iteration would be essential to maintaining momentum.

Beyond consumer-facing applications, Gemini 3 has driven substantial enterprise adoption. Google's first-party models now process over 10 billion tokens per minute through direct API usage by business customers. This processing volume translates to billions of words analyzed or generated hourly, indicating that power users and enterprise clients generate substantial query volumes beyond casual consumer experimentation.

The integration of Gemini 3 into Search's AI mode has proven particularly successful, with Google reporting that Search saw more usage than ever before following the model's deployment. This seamless embedding of AI capabilities into existing products creates ubiquitous access points where users encounter Gemini without explicitly seeking AI assistance - a strategic advantage over standalone chatbot applications.

Closing the Gap with ChatGPT

While Gemini's 750 million monthly active users represents impressive growth, the platform still trails ChatGPT's estimated 810 million users - a gap of approximately 60 million users. However, the trajectory suggests this distance is narrowing rapidly. Just one year earlier, in March 2025, Gemini had only 350 million monthly active users with 35 million daily active users, according to testimony presented during Google's antitrust remedies trial.

This means Gemini more than doubled its user base in roughly nine months, demonstrating an acceleration that outpaces most competitors in the space. The growth rate becomes even more striking when considering that Gemini started 2025 with approximately 450 million monthly active users, adding 300 million users throughout the year.

Several factors contribute to Gemini's competitive positioning. Google's ecosystem advantage provides built-in distribution channels that standalone applications cannot match. The integration across Android devices alone - with the Circle to Search feature now available on 580 million Android devices - creates persistent touchpoints for user engagement. Additionally, AI Overviews powered by Gemini reach 2 billion users monthly through Google Search, exposing the technology to audiences who might never download a dedicated AI chatbot application.

The Apple Partnership: A Strategic Transformation

The January 2026 announcement that Apple and Google had entered into a multi-year collaboration sent shockwaves through the technology industry. Under the agreement, the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google's Gemini models and cloud technology, powering future Apple Intelligence features including a more personalized Siri launching later in 2026.

The partnership statement from both companies emphasized that these models would "help power future Apple Intelligence features," though specific details about which features would be affected remained undisclosed. It remains unclear whether Gemini will influence existing Apple Intelligence capabilities such as Writing Tools, Image Playground, and Notification Summaries, or if the collaboration focuses exclusively on new functionality.

For Google, the partnership represents a massive distribution opportunity. Apple's installed base of active devices exceeds 2 billion globally, providing Gemini with potential access to users who might otherwise never engage with Google's AI products. The collaboration also validates Google's AI technology at the highest level, with Apple - known for its exacting standards and preference for proprietary solutions - choosing Gemini over alternatives including OpenAI's models (though Apple continues to support ChatGPT integration as well).

The deal reflects what analysts describe as a strategic choice by Apple to focus on its core strengths rather than attempting to build competing general-purpose AI models from scratch. Apple's differentiation comes not from the underlying AI model itself, but from the data and user context it controls through its devices and services, combined with tight integration, privacy features, and custom silicon optimization. Siri's deep system access and private on-device processing enable unique experiences that third-party assistants typically cannot offer.

This flexible approach - supporting multiple AI models including both Gemini and ChatGPT - allows Apple to provide different capabilities for different user needs while maintaining control over the user experience and privacy architecture. Rather than signaling surrender in the AI race, the partnership demonstrates Apple's pragmatic strategy of embedding AI seamlessly into its ecosystem by leveraging external foundation models while building proprietary enhancements on top.

Pricing Strategy and Market Expansion

Google has adopted an aggressive pricing strategy to accelerate Gemini's growth across different market segments. The company maintains a robust free tier that has driven much of the platform's adoption, while simultaneously developing subscription offerings to monetize power users and unlock advanced features.

In September 2025, Google introduced Google AI Plus at approximately $4.50 per month, targeting budget-conscious consumers across 40 developing countries including Ukraine, Moldova, and Egypt. This tier was designed to provide premium features at price points accessible in emerging markets where $20 monthly subscriptions represent a significant portion of disposable income.

The company expanded this affordable tier to 35 additional countries including the United States in late January 2026, pricing it at $7.99 per month. This represents a significant discount compared to premium AI subscription offerings from competitors, which typically range from $20 to $30 monthly. During the investor call, Google's chief business officer Philipp Schindler emphasized that "we are focused on a free tier and subscriptions and seeing great growth," indicating that pricing flexibility serves as a long-term growth lever.

The timing of the U.S. launch means the $7.99 tier arrived too recently to influence the fourth quarter 2025 figures showing 750 million users. This suggests that Gemini's first quarter 2026 results may show additional acceleration as the more affordable subscription option drives conversions among users who found previous pricing prohibitive. The strategy balances accessibility with sustainable revenue models, particularly important as Google scales its AI infrastructure to support growing usage.

Enterprise Adoption and Commercial Success

While consumer metrics grab headlines, Gemini's enterprise adoption tells an equally compelling story. Google sold over 8 million paid seats of Gemini Enterprise in just four months, demonstrating strong commercial traction among businesses seeking to integrate AI capabilities into workflows.

The 10 billion tokens per minute processing volume through direct API usage indicates that enterprise customers are moving beyond experimentation into production deployments. This level of usage suggests that businesses are building Gemini into customer-facing applications, internal tools, and automated workflows that generate continuous query volumes.

Google Cloud revenues surged 48% to reach a $70 billion annual run rate, with AI services contributing significantly to this growth. The enterprise segment benefits from Google's infrastructure advantages, including custom Tensor Processing Units optimized for AI workloads and global data center presence that enables low-latency responses across geographic regions.

The commercial success extends beyond pure software subscriptions. Google announced plans for aggressive capital expenditure of $175-185 billion in 2026 to support expanding AI infrastructure - roughly double the previous year's $91.5 billion. This positions Google as the biggest spender among tech giants, surpassing Meta's planned $115-135 billion 2026 expenditure and exceeding Microsoft's current quarterly spending rate of $37.5 billion. The massive infrastructure investment signals confidence that enterprise demand will continue accelerating.

User Demographics and Engagement Patterns

Gemini's user base skews male, with 57.82% male users compared to 42.18% female users. This gender distribution is relatively balanced compared to some technical products, suggesting that Gemini has achieved broader mainstream appeal beyond early adopter demographics.

Traffic analysis reveals that over 76% of Gemini traffic arrives as direct traffic, with users intentionally navigating to the platform rather than discovering it through search or referrals. Organic search traffic accounts for 13.55% of visits. This direct traffic dominance indicates strong brand awareness and repeat usage patterns - users know about Gemini and return regularly rather than stumbling upon it incidentally.

CEO Sundar Pichai noted during the earnings call that Google is "seeing significantly higher engagement per user, especially since the launch of Gemini 3 in December." This increased engagement per user matters as much as raw user counts, suggesting that Gemini is becoming more deeply embedded in user workflows rather than serving as an occasional novelty. Higher engagement typically correlates with stronger retention and increased likelihood of subscription conversion.

The integration strategy creates multiple engagement pathways. Users might interact with Gemini through the standalone app, encounter AI-powered features in Gmail's smart replies, receive assistance with document creation in Google Docs, or engage with conversational capabilities through Android devices. This multi-touchpoint approach builds habitual usage patterns that standalone applications struggle to replicate.

Competitive Landscape and Future Outlook

Gemini's position in the competitive AI landscape has strengthened considerably, but significant challenges remain. ChatGPT maintains its lead with superior brand recognition, particularly among early adopters and technical users. OpenAI's first-mover advantage in the consumer AI space created strong associations between ChatGPT and AI chatbots generally, similar to how Google became synonymous with search.

However, Google's ecosystem integration provides structural advantages that may prove decisive over time. Unlike standalone applications, Gemini benefits from distribution channels including default placement on Android devices, integration into the world's most-used search engine, and embedding across productivity tools used by billions. These touchpoints create passive exposure that drives adoption without requiring active marketing or user acquisition spending.

The Apple partnership fundamentally alters the competitive dynamics. If Gemini successfully powers an improved Siri experience, it gains exposure to iPhone and iPad users who represent some of the most valuable consumers in technology. This could accelerate Gemini's path to surpassing ChatGPT in total users, even if ChatGPT retains leadership among dedicated AI enthusiast segments.

Looking forward, Google's continued investment and rapid iteration strategy positions Gemini for sustained growth. The company's infrastructure spending ensures it can scale to meet demand, while pricing experimentation helps identify optimal points for different market segments. The introduction of Ironwood, Google's latest generation TPU AI accelerator chip, provides competitive alternatives to Nvidia's dominant position in AI hardware, potentially reducing costs and improving performance over time.

Alphabet's achievement of surpassing $400 billion in annual revenue for the first time, with AI expansion contributing significantly, validates the company's massive AI investments. The financial performance provides resources for continued development while demonstrating to investors that AI initiatives are translating into business results rather than remaining speculative bets.

Conclusion

Google Gemini's rise to 750 million monthly active users represents one of the fastest adoption curves in consumer technology history. The platform added 300 million users throughout 2025, with acceleration following the Gemini 3 launch in December. This growth positions Gemini as the second-largest AI chatbot globally, closing the gap with ChatGPT while decisively leading competitors like Meta AI.

The Apple partnership announced in January 2026 marks an inflection point, potentially providing Gemini with access to billions of additional devices through integration with Siri and future Apple Intelligence features. This collaboration validates Google's AI technology while providing distribution advantages that could prove decisive in the race for AI dominance.

Google's strategy combines ecosystem integration, pricing flexibility, and massive infrastructure investment. The company maintains a robust free tier while developing subscription offerings at multiple price points, from the $7.99 Google AI Plus plan to premium enterprise offerings. Enterprise adoption has accelerated rapidly, with over 8 million paid Gemini Enterprise seats sold in just four months and processing volumes exceeding 10 billion tokens per minute.

The competitive landscape remains dynamic, with ChatGPT maintaining its lead and new entrants continuing to emerge. However, Google's structural advantages - including Android integration, Search dominance, productivity tool embedding, and now the Apple partnership - create multiple pathways for sustained growth. The company's willingness to invest $175-185 billion in AI infrastructure during 2026 signals confidence that demand will continue expanding.

As AI capabilities become increasingly embedded in everyday digital experiences, Gemini's integration strategy may prove more durable than standalone application approaches. The platform's evolution from a ChatGPT competitor to a foundational technology powering experiences across multiple ecosystems represents a significant shift in how AI reaches users. Whether this approach ultimately enables Gemini to surpass ChatGPT in total users remains to be seen, but the trajectory suggests that outcome is increasingly plausible.