Google's viral Nano Banana AI image tool has already hurt Adobe, data suggests (www.businessinsider.com)

Google’s viral “Nano Banana” — the Gemini 2.5 Flash image-editing model — has driven a dramatic surge in downloads of the Gemini app since its August 26 rollout, while Adobe’s Firefly app has seen a sharp decline, according to Appfigures data reported by Business Insider. After Nano Banana’s integration, Gemini downloads jumped 331% vs. late July (6.1 million more downloads in one week), and rose 88% in the U.S. month-over-month; Firefly downloads fell as much as 68% overall and 82% in the U.S., losing about 2 million downloads in the comparable period. Appfigures’ figures cover both Google Play and Apple App Store installs, and show Firefly’s growth earlier in August (up 150% month-over-month) reversing after Nano Banana’s launch. For the AI/ML community, the episode underscores how model capability, pricing and accessibility (Nano Banana is available free or low-cost via API) can rapidly shift consumer adoption and threaten incumbents. Technically, Nano Banana’s strong image-editing results and easy integration into an existing consumer app appear to outcompete model-agnostic platforms; Adobe even added Nano Banana to Firefly in September but still lost traction. While correlation isn’t proof of causation, the data highlights the commercial risk to subscription-based providers like Adobe from high-quality, widely accessible generative models and signals accelerating market consolidation around superior, low-friction models.