DeepSeek loses momentum.

DeepSeek's chatbot has seen a sharp drop in downloads as Chinese users shift to specialized AI applications for work purposes.

In the second quarter of 2025, DeepSeek recorded a significant drop in downloads and users, as many customers in China increasingly prioritized artificial intelligence (AI) applications for specialized learning and work purposes.

According to a report published on July 21st by QuestMobile, in collaboration with the state-run National Business Daily , the average monthly downloads of the DeepSeek chatbot have decreased by 72% compared to the previous quarter, to just 22.6 million. This is a significant drop, marking a decline after a boom period in the first quarter of the year. Previously, both the company's V3 and R1 AI models were widely accepted by users.

Nevertheless, DeepSeek maintained its leading position in terms of monthly active users (MAU) in mainland China with 170 million. However, this number also decreased by 9% compared to the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, Doubao, a chatbot developed by ByteDance, surged in downloads, averaging 29.8 million downloads per month in Q2 2025, a 9.5% increase from the previous quarter. Doubao's MAU (Mean User Area) also recorded an impressive 30% growth, reaching 130 million.

Besides DeepSeek, many other popular chatbots also saw a sharp decline. Yuanbao, developed by Tencent Holdings, saw a 54% drop in downloads to 61.8 million. Kimi, a product of Moonshot AI, experienced a significant 58% drop.

According to QuestMobile, this shift reflects a growing trend among Chinese users to prioritize AI applications that offer a small number of specific functions, rather than multi-purpose chatbots. "This trend clearly shows that the era of purely chatbots is over," the report states.

As the Chinese AI market enters a phase of intense competition, chatbot development companies will need to reshape their strategies to avoid being left behind in the innovation race.

Source: https://znews.vn/deepseek-that-sung-tai-que-nha-post1570956.html