Chinese AI lab DeepSeek’s Android app has soared to the No. 1 spot on the Google Play Store, just days after its chatbot app topped the Apple App Store. Since its mid-January launch, the app has been downloaded over 1.2 million times on the Play Store and 1.9 million times on the App Store globally. The actual number of downloads could be even higher, with DeepSeek reporting over 5 million installs on the Play Store.
The app’s rapid rise follows the release of DeepSeek’s competitive open-source AI models, which rival those from Western tech giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google. DeepSeek claims its AI models were trained at a fraction of the cost compared to models from companies like OpenAI and Meta, using less powerful AI chips.
The DeepSeek app serves as a ChatGPT alternative, powered by the company’s V3 model. Users can analyze files, answer questions, and access web information. The app is free, allowing file uploads and syncing chat history across devices.
While DeepSeek is currently dominating the charts, it will need to reach 300 million weekly users to surpass OpenAI’s ChatGPT for long-term chatbot leadership. DeepSeek’s models are already being integrated by startups like Perplexity and Gloo, Pat Gelsinger’s new venture.
