Airtel Partnership Catapults Perplexity Past ChatGPT as India's Top iOS AI App

In a significant shift within India's competitive AI application market, Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine, has surged past OpenAI's ChatGPT to become the number one free app on the Apple App Store.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] This development comes directly on the heels of a strategic partnership between Perplexity and Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest telecommunications operator.[8][9][10] The collaboration provides a complimentary one-year subscription to Perplexity Pro to all 360 million Airtel customers, a move that has dramatically altered the user landscape and highlights the growing influence of telco partnerships in the technology sector.[8][9][11][12] While ChatGPT continues to hold a dominant position on the Google Play Store, Perplexity's sudden ascent on iOS signals a new phase of competition, driven by strategic alliances and the allure of premium features.[1][7]

The core catalyst for Perplexity's rapid climb in the app store rankings is its partnership with Bharti Airtel, which grants Airtel's vast customer base—spanning mobile, broadband, and DTH services—free access to Perplexity Pro for twelve months.[13][14][11][15][12] This subscription, typically valued at around ₹17,000 annually, unlocks a suite of advanced features, making powerful AI tools accessible to a massive audience at no cost.[8][9][2][16][3] The offer can be redeemed through the Airtel Thanks app, a seamless process that has encouraged widespread adoption.[8][16][15][17] This strategic move by Airtel is seen as a way to attract new subscribers and reduce customer churn in a highly competitive telecommunications market.[14] For Perplexity, this marks its first collaboration with an Indian telecom company and represents a significant push to expand its user base in the world's most populous country, a market experiencing frenetic growth in the adoption of AI search and chat tools.[9][11] The partnership is a departure from traditional telecom bundles that focus on entertainment, positioning Airtel as a forward-thinking provider of premium AI tools.[8]

Perplexity Pro offers a significant upgrade over the free version, providing users with access to a range of advanced AI models, including GPT-4.1, Claude, and Grok 4.[1][2][4] This allows users to choose the model they believe is best suited for their query. The pro subscription also increases the daily limit of "Pro" searches to 300, compared to a much smaller number for free users, and enables the uploading of files for analysis and summarization.[8][16][18] Furthermore, Perplexity Pro includes image generation capabilities and access to the company's newly launched Comet browser, which remains invite-only for non-subscribers.[1] The Comet browser is designed to be an "agentic" browser, meaning it can not only search for information but also perform tasks on behalf of the user, such as booking meetings or making purchases.[19][20][21] These enhanced features, particularly the access to multiple sophisticated AI models and increased search limits, are especially beneficial for students, researchers, and professionals who require deep research capabilities.[3] The offer of these premium tools for free has proven to be a powerful incentive for Airtel customers, driving a massive spike in downloads of the Perplexity app.[2][5]

The competitive landscape of AI chatbots in India is dynamic, with user attention often shifting to the latest and most innovative offering.[1] While ChatGPT experienced its own viral moment with the introduction of its GPT-4o image generator, Perplexity's partnership with Airtel has demonstrated the significant impact that strategic distribution can have on app-store rankings.[1] Despite Perplexity's recent surge on the Apple App Store, data shows that ChatGPT still maintains a substantial lead in the overall mobile AI chatbot market in India.[22] As of June 2025, ChatGPT held a market share of 91.61%, compared to Perplexity's 2.04%.[22] However, Perplexity has shown impressive growth in India, with a 600% increase in downloads in the second quarter, reaching 2.8 million.[10][23] The company's monthly active users in India also saw a 640% year-over-year increase.[10] This indicates strong momentum, even if the absolute user numbers still trail behind ChatGPT's.[10][23] The collaboration with Airtel is a clear strategy to close this gap and build a larger paid subscriber base in a price-sensitive market.[10]

The partnership between Perplexity and Airtel is indicative of a broader trend of collaboration between AI companies and telecommunications operators to drive AI adoption.[24][25][26] Telcos, with their vast subscriber bases and established distribution channels, offer AI companies an unparalleled opportunity to reach millions of potential users.[24][26] For the telecom operators, offering premium AI services can serve as a powerful differentiator in a competitive market, enhancing customer value and loyalty.[14][24] As AI becomes more integrated into various aspects of daily life, from search and research to productivity and task automation, such partnerships are likely to become more common.[24][27] The success of the Perplexity-Airtel collaboration in catapulting the app to the top of the charts serves as a powerful case study for the symbiotic relationship between AI innovators and telecommunication giants. The long-term implications of this strategy will depend on Perplexity's ability to retain these new users after the one-year free subscription period ends, but for now, it has undeniably shaken up the AI app market in India.[2]