AI apps battle for China’s mobile mindshare
Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance are fueling a three-way war in China’s mobile AI app market as downloads surge globally;
AI apps hit 260 million global downloads in March, led by ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Chinese challengers like DeepSeek and Doubao.
China’s consumer AI scene is a three-horse race between Tencent’s Yuanbao, ByteDance’s Doubao, and Alibaba’s Quark—each pushing aggressive ad spend and product innovation.
Kimi’s collapse highlights shifting momentum, with Tencent and Alibaba rising as Doubao faces mounting pressure.
Global boom, but China writes its own script
In March 2025, the global AI app economy logged an estimated 260 million downloads across iOS and Android, with ChatGPT commanding a staggering 23% share alone.
Google’s Gemini and China’s DeepSeek rounded out the top three, each still far behind OpenAI’s flagship.
But inside China, the story gets far more dynamic—and competitive.
Three tech giants—Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance—have carved out a “Three Kingdoms” of consumer AI apps, and the battle is heating up.
China’s top AI apps in March: quick take
According to DataEye, China’s Apple App Store alone saw over 40 million AI app downloads in March, with five apps capturing two-thirds of the total:
DeepSeek
Dreamina (ByteDance)
Doubao (ByteDance)
Quark (Alibaba)
Yuanbao (Tencent)
What’s interesting is not just the leaderboard, but how Tencent’s Yuanbao surged into the top five, while Kimi—last month’s #1—vanished from the rankings due to slashed ad spending.
Meanwhile, DeepSeek’s hype cooled off fast, plummeting in daily downloads after peaking at 3M+ in February to just 500K/day in March—no major ad push and limited compute resources played a role.
AI marketing in China: who’s spending, who’s winning
China’s consumer AI war isn’t just about building better models—it’s about relentless advertising.
In March, Chinese AI apps launched nearly 960,000 ad creatives, a record pace. The top five platforms by ad volume were:
Yuanbao (Tencent) – 26%
Quark (Alibaba) – 24%
Doubao (ByteDance) – 13%
Xingye (MiniMax)
Tongyi (Alibaba)
Kimi, once a top advertiser, essentially dropped out of the race this month, ceding space to Tencent and Alibaba. ByteDance’s Doubao also saw a drop in ad activity—but retained third place thanks to earlier momentum.