Super Apps Last All Summer Long

OpenAI's updated ChatGPT, touted as the first super app, has been criticized as a mess, while Microsoft, Meta, Apple, and Google vie for dominance in the super app space. Google may turn Chrome into a super app to boost Gemini usage, and Apple's iPhone positions it well for AI integration, but regulatory and user acceptance risks loom.

Super Apps Last All Summer Long I can now confirm, the pubs were in fact crazy on Saturday night as I watched my Conflicted Cup – aka, the World Cup semifinal between England and Norway I, of course, live in England but my maternal heritage is full-on Norwegian . It was close, but England pulled it out in the end – an end that occurred shortly before 1am local time, which was especially fun. Anyway, while there was a sports angle of my usual tech talk with Alex Kantrowitz https://spyglass.org/tag/big-technology/ this month thanks to the VAR situation in said World Cup, for the most part, we stick to tech. Namely, ' The Summer of Super Apps https://spyglass.org/copilot-ai-super-app/ ', which ended up being a timely chat since just days later , we got the first such app https://spyglass.org/super-app/ in the form of OpenAI's updated – but hardly upgraded – version of ChatGPT. Spoiler alert: it's a mess https://spyglass.org/chatgpt-gets-to-work/ . So do we really believe Microsoft will be able to pull this off? I mean, at least they're coming at it from a place where they needed to change their strategy https://spyglass.org/microsoft-copilot-copilot-copilot/ , OpenAI runs a real risk here of ceding the consumer space – the area of AI they've unquestionably dominated https://spyglass.org/kids-and-ai/ to date https://spyglass.org/consumer-ai-services-apps/ – potentially to Meta https://spyglass.org/meta-ai-cloud-business-model/ or even Apple https://spyglass.org/siri-ai/ At the same time, OpenAI clearly feels the need to combat Anthropic and so it's hardly surprising that the new ChatGPT looks a lot like the Claude Mac app. Well, it is surprising https://spyglass.org/chatgpt-is-dead-long-live-chatgpt/ in that it's sort of a UI nightmare when we're used to OpenAI making actually delightful product experiences https://spyglass.org/openai-product-launches/ , for the most part https://spyglass.org/openai-chatgpt-gpt-5-backlash/ . Everyone is also chasing the notion, if not exactly the product, of OpenClaw https://spyglass.org/openclaw-versus-closed-claude/ for agentic AI. Meanwhile, Google, which rather remarkably feels https://spyglass.org/inklings-amazons-openai-movie-meta-glasses-microsofts-ai-narrative-pivot-google-falling-behind-in-ai-again/ :~:text=%F0%9F%93%89%20Is%20Google%20Behind%20In%20AI%3F%20Again%3F behind again https://spyglass.org/google-isnt-lazy-its-timid-as-it-sadly-must-be/ at the moment, still has the biggest surfaces to naturally insert AI well, more naturally than Meta at least, whose user base will undoubtedly largely reject https://variety.com/2026/biz/news/meta-suspends-ai-image-instagram-feature-backlash-1236806989/?ref=spyglass.org such insertion . Is it wild to think that Google may turn to Chrome not just to spur Gemini usage which they've been doing https://spyglass.org/chrome-gemini/ , of course but to turn it into the "Super App"? Would they dare? Talk about risk – from both the user base and regulators https://spyglass.org/google-antitrust-ai/ Does ' Bring Your Own AI https://spyglass.org/bring-your-own-ai/ ' come into play in all this? That could be a new can of worms Apple, though, does suddenly feel well positioned https://spyglass.org/siri-ai/ again. Perhaps best positioned even Thanks, of course, to the iPhone https://spyglass.org/apples-next-big-ai-thing-the-iphone/ . It sort of feels like we're going to see a lot of people over the next year transition into a mode where they walk around and talk to Siri – actually talk to her , not yell at her, angry with her previously poor responses https://spyglass.org/new-new-siri/ . But here OpenAI may have a real opportunity thanks to their focus on superior voice-based AI https://spyglass.org/gpt-live/ . You'd think that's an opening for a new product category – or categories https://spyglass.org/apple-ai-pin-wearable/ – but well, there's a potential new massive hiccup https://spyglass.org/apple-vs-openai/ there as of a couple days ago. Also, don't sleep https://spyglass.org/shudder-button/ on " Visual Intelligence https://spyglass.org/airpod-cameras-siri-ai/ ". If it all plays out this way, Apple will obviously feel very good about their CapEx strategy https://spyglass.org/apple-crazy-capex/ . Which is to say, they'd be positioned well in AI without having spent hundreds of billions of dollars https://spyglass.org/meta-apple-ai-strategy/ . And it's sort of starting to feel like https://spyglass.org/inklings-amazons-openai-movie-meta-glasses-microsofts-ai-narrative-pivot-google-falling-behind-in-ai-again/ :~:text=%E2%98%81%EF%B8%8F%20Microsoft%E2%80%99s%20Hybrid%20AI%20Dreams Microsoft is moving more in this direction too. Or, at least, focusing on finding paths towards cheaper AI – both for themselves https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-07/microsoft-replaces-openai-anthropic-with-own-ai-in-some-apps?ref=spyglass.org and for their user base. Lastly, stick around for Alex's VAR rant – are we trusting the robots too much and literally taking the fun and majesty out of the game?