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Google Says Gemini App Use Has More Than Doubled in Southeast Asia
Google’s first Southeast Asia Gemini report highlights mobile-first usage, strong demand for local languages and the shift from chatbot to AI agent.
Google says active users of its Gemini app in Southeast Asia have more than doubled over the past year, with smartphones becoming the main gateway to the service. The findings come from Google’s first Gemini Southeast Asia Report, published alongside a Google announcement on July 14, 2026.
The report examines usage across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Google presents the results as a snapshot of how people are using Gemini for work, study, creativity and everyday problem-solving, while also outlining the company’s next step: bringing more proactive AI-agent features to local-language users.
Most Gemini activity in the region starts on a phone
Google says almost three out of four Gemini requests in Southeast Asia come from mobile devices. That makes the region a useful test of how generative AI behaves in the practical conditions of smartphone use, where people may rely on voice input, camera uploads and short sessions rather than long typed prompts.
The company says more than 40% of prompts in the region include voice commands, photos or video uploads. Voice alone accounts for 10% of prompts. These figures do not represent the percentage of users who own smartphones or the overall share of mobile traffic in Southeast Asia; they describe Gemini requests recorded in Google’s report. Even with that limitation, the pattern points to an assistant experience built around the phone’s microphone and camera as much as its keyboard.
Local languages are central to adoption
Nearly 70% of prompts analysed by Google were submitted in a local language rather than English. Vietnam recorded the highest share at 89%, followed by Thailand at 87% and Indonesia at 84%. Google also cites the Southeast Asia Holistic Evaluation of Language Models, or SEA-HELM, when describing Gemini’s performance across regional languages.
For smartphone users, language support can change whether an AI app feels like a general-purpose tool or a service designed for someone else’s market. A user who can speak naturally, upload a picture and continue the conversation in a familiar language faces fewer barriers than someone who has to translate every request first. Google’s figures suggest that this local-language layer is not a secondary feature in Southeast Asia; it is part of the reason the app is being used.
Younger users are driving longer conversations
Google describes younger digital natives as the region’s most active Gemini users. According to the report, they make more requests, have longer conversations and write more detailed prompts than older age groups. Google also notes that nearly 40% of Southeast Asia’s population is under 25.
The report does not publish an absolute number of Gemini users for the region, so the growth claim should be read as a Google-reported adoption trend rather than a complete measurement of generative-AI usage across all platforms. It nevertheless gives a clear indication of where Google sees the strongest momentum: among people already comfortable using mobile apps for communication, research and creation.
Gemini is moving beyond questions and answers
The announcement also looks ahead to Gemini Spark, which Google describes as a more active AI partner capable of helping manage tasks across connected apps. After an initial English launch, Google said on July 14 that it was rolling out Gemini Spark in local languages to Gemini Advanced, also referred to as Ultra, subscribers in the region that week.
Google says Spark is integrated with Workspace tools including Gmail, Docs and Slides, and can continue working in the background even when a laptop is closed or a phone is locked. That changes the user’s relationship with the app: instead of simply requesting an answer, people may delegate parts of a task and review the result later. The announcement does not provide a full list of supported actions or a detailed account of regional availability, so those practical limits remain important when assessing the feature.
Creative work is another major use case
Google says about 40% of Gemini queries in Southeast Asia ask the service to create something new, including images, music, videos or documents. The company reports that users in the region have generated 5 billion images with Nano Banana over the past year and almost 1 million songs with Lyria 3 since Google introduced its music-generation model there.
Those are Google’s own usage figures, not independently audited market statistics. They still show how the company is positioning Gemini: not only as a search or productivity assistant, but also as a mobile creation tool. On a smartphone, the combination of voice, images and video allows users to move from an idea to a draft without switching between several specialised apps.
What the report means for mobile users
Google’s Southeast Asia report points to three conditions shaping the next phase of AI apps: access through smartphones, interaction in local languages and a gradual shift toward agents that can complete work across other services. The first two are already reflected in the usage figures Google published. The third is represented by Gemini Spark, whose broader impact will depend on availability, permissions and how clearly users can review actions before they are completed.
For now, the most concrete conclusion is that Gemini’s expansion in Southeast Asia is being driven by mobile behaviour rather than desktop use alone. Google’s figures show a regional audience using voice, photos and video to communicate with an AI assistant, while the company prepares to extend that relationship into more proactive, app-connected workflows.