Google is about to hand Gemini a badge that only a handful of products ever earn. On its Q2 2026 earnings call, the company said its AI assistant now has more than 950 million monthly users, according to TechCrunch AI. That puts Gemini within striking distance of a billion, the same club that already includes Search, Gmail, Drive, Android, YouTube, and Chrome.
What stands out here is the speed. TechCrunch AI reports that Gemini users have tripled over the past year. Back in February, Google said the app had crossed 750 million monthly active users. Getting from there to nearly a billion in a few months is not slow, steady growth. It’s a sprint.
Why this matters
The race for AI assistant dominance just got a lot tighter. OpenAI’s ChatGPT hit 1 billion monthly active users in June, so for most of this cycle it looked like a one-horse show. Gemini’s numbers change that story.
And the market data backs it up. Analytics firm Sensor Tower, cited in TechCrunch AI, found that in its latest ‘State of AI’ report ChatGPT’s share among AI assistants fell below 50% for the first time in the first half of 2026. Gemini’s share climbed to 27.7%. When the leader drops under half the market, that’s a signal the field is opening up.
What’s driving the growth
Google is pointing to a steady stream of new features. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai singled out a few on the call:
- Daily Brief and Gemini Spark, a personalized agent now live in the U.S. and internationally
- Nano Banana, an image generation model that helped Gemini break out on iOS
“Users love new agentic features like Daily Brief and our personalized agent, Gemini Spark, which is now available in the U.S. and internationally,” Pichai said. “We’ve been shipping helpful new features like this at an incredible pace.”
The iOS traction is worth noting. Gemini isn’t just riding Android’s default placement. Appfigures data shared by TechCrunch AI shows the app pulled more than 137 million downloads on iPhone in the last 12 months. That’s real demand on a platform where Google has to compete for every install.
Search isn’t taking the hit
There’s been a running worry that AI assistants would eat into traditional search. Many people already use these apps as a search substitute. But Google says its search business is holding up, helped by an AI-focused overhaul.
A couple of numbers from the call:
- Google’s Q&A-style AI mode crossed 1 billion users this quarter
- The company says AI mode is driving an “incremental increase” in search queries
Google also claims it cut the cost of running AI mode through hardware engineering, even while adding new models and features. That last point matters for the industry. Serving AI at this scale is expensive, and any company that can bring per-query costs down while shipping more has a structural edge.
What to expect next
A few things worth watching:
- The billion-user crossover. At current pace, Gemini clears that line soon. Expect Google to make noise about it when it happens.
- A real two-way race. With ChatGPT under 50% share and Gemini near 28%, competition on features and pricing should heat up. That usually means faster shipping and better tools for the rest of us.
- Distribution as the moat. Google’s advantage isn’t just the model. It’s Android, Search, and a billion-user habit it can plug Gemini into. OpenAI has to win users one download at a time.
Gemini went from a late starter to a genuine contender in about 18 months. The interesting question now isn’t whether it reaches a billion users. It’s what a two-horse race does to the pace of the whole field.
More details are available in the original report from TechCrunch AI.