Anthropic’s Claude mobile app climbed to the top position in the U.S. Apple App Store over the weekend, overtaking OpenAI’s ChatGPT amid controversy surrounding OpenAI’s agreement with the Department of Defense, which has been rebranded under the Trump administration as the Department of War.

Data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower indicates that U.S. uninstalls of ChatGPT surged 295% day over day on Saturday, February 28. That compares with a typical 9% daily uninstall rate over the past 30 days. At the same time, downloads of Claude in the U.S. rose 37% on Friday and 51% on Saturday after Anthropic announced it would not move forward with a defense partnership.

Anthropic cited concerns that its AI systems could be used for domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons, applications it has said exceed safe deployment boundaries. A portion of consumers appeared to support that stance.

ChatGPT’s U.S. download growth reversed sharply after news of its defense agreement became public. Downloads fell 13 percent day over day on Saturday and declined an additional 5 percent on Sunday. The day before the announcement, downloads had risen 14 percent.

Claude’s ranking improvement was rapid. The app moved more than 20 positions within roughly a week, reaching No. 1 in the U.S. by Saturday, March 2. Two months earlier, the app had ranked outside the top 40.

User Sentiment and Global Momentum

Sensor Tower reported that one star reviews for ChatGPT increased 775% on Saturday, followed by another 100% rise on Sunday. Five star reviews fell by 50 percent during the same period. The ratings shift reflected growing user reaction to OpenAI’s national security partnership.

Other analytics firms reported similar trends. Appfigures said Claude’s total daily U.S. downloads surpassed ChatGPT’s for the first time on Saturday. Its estimates showed Claude downloads increasing 88 percent day over day, a steeper jump than Sensor Tower’s figures.

Claude also reached the No. 1 free iPhone app position in six additional countries: Belgium, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, and Switzerland.

Similarweb reported that Claude’s U.S. downloads over the past week were approximately 20 times higher than in January, though it cautioned that not all growth may be tied directly to political developments.

Celebrity Endorsement and Social Momentum

On X, pop star Katy Perry shared a screenshot of her subscription to Claude Pro, circling the $214.99 annual plan and captioning the post “done” — in what many users interpreted as a show of support for Anthropic’s stance against certain military use cases. Her post quickly gained traction online, reinforcing broader public engagement with Claude amid the dispute. 

done pic.twitter.com/DkS9DmlUAR

— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) February 28, 2026

Consumer discussion on social media showed a wave of users canceling ChatGPT subscriptions and migrating to Claude, supported by community-generated screenshots of cancellation confirmations and comments. These social signals coincided with claims on platforms such as Reddit that the environment around AI ethics and national security was influencing individual choices.

The episode underscores how AI policy decisions can rapidly influence consumer behavior. While OpenAI has strengthened its standing in Washington through classified deployments, Anthropic appears to be gaining traction among retail users concerned about military applications of artificial intelligence.

Honor has confirmed that its Robot Phone will launch in the second half of the year, following its showcase at Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona. The device was first teased in October and is positioned as a new category of smartphone built around advanced stabilization and robotics-inspired mechanics.

The Robot Phone builds on technologies seen in Honor’s Magic V6 foldable but introduces more complex mechanical systems designed to support motion tracking and stabilized imaging. The company describes it as “a new species of smartphone,” emphasizing its hardware-driven approach to mobile photography.

200MP Camera With Integrated Mechanical Gimbal

The standout feature is a 200-megapixel camera integrated with what Honor calls an industry-first three-axis mechanical gimbal system inside a smartphone body. Unlike conventional optical image stabilization, the system physically rotates and stabilizes the camera module across multiple axes, similar in concept to dedicated handheld stabilizers used in professional videography.

Honor says the integrated system enables smoother video capture across varied shooting scenarios. The camera is supported by AI-driven features, including object tracking that allows the lens module to follow subjects as they move within the frame. This blend of mechanical stabilization and AI tracking aims to enhance both video and still photography performance.

The company is collaborating with ARRI, a German motion picture equipment specialist, to refine the imaging experience. The partnership signals Honor’s attempt to position the Robot Phone closer to professional-grade video tools rather than standard consumer smartphones.

Broader Innovation Showcase at MWC

In addition to the Robot Phone, Honor used the MWC 2026 platform to present a humanoid robot prototype and unveil new silicon-carbon battery technology designed for foldable devices. The battery innovation is intended to improve energy density while maintaining slim device profiles, a critical factor for foldables.

While full hardware specifications for the Robot Phone have not yet been disclosed, further details are expected closer to launch. The initial release is scheduled for China, with a phased rollout to additional markets thereafter.

Pricing has not been announced, though the mechanical complexity and lack of comparable devices suggest a premium positioning. By integrating robotics-style hardware directly into a smartphone chassis, Honor is testing whether mechanical innovation, alongside AI enhancements, can differentiate devices in a saturated flagship market.

OpenAI announced $110 billion in new investment at a $730 billion pre-money valuation, marking one of the largest private funding rounds in technology history. The round includes $30 billion each from SoftBank Group Corp and NVIDIA, and $50 billion from Amazon. Additional financial investors are expected to join as the round progresses.

The company said the funding will support rising global demand for artificial intelligence products across consumers, developers, and enterprises. OpenAI identified compute, distribution, and capital as the core requirements to scale access to its AI systems worldwide.

As part of the announcement, OpenAI signed a multi-year strategic partnership with Amazon and expanded its collaboration with NVIDIA to secure next-generation inference and training infrastructure.

Infrastructure Expansion and Strategic Partnerships

Under the NVIDIA agreement, OpenAI will utilize 3 gigawatts of dedicated inference capacity and 2 gigawatts of training capacity on Vera Rubin systems. This builds on Hopper and Blackwell systems already deployed across partners including Microsoft, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and CoreWeave. The expanded compute footprint is designed to accelerate both model training and real-time deployment at global scale.

The Amazon partnership focuses on accelerating AI adoption among enterprises, startups, and consumers. OpenAI said the collaboration strengthens its distribution channels and infrastructure capabilities while deepening integration across cloud environments.

Product Growth Across Consumer and Enterprise

The funding follows significant growth across OpenAI’s product portfolio. Codex, the company’s AI coding system, has seen weekly users more than triple since the start of the year to 1.6 million. The tool enables individuals to build and deploy software workflows that previously required larger engineering teams.

ChatGPT remains the company’s largest consumer-facing product, with more than 900 million weekly active users and over 50 million subscribers. OpenAI reported that January and February are on track to be the strongest months for new subscriber additions in its history. The company said product performance continues to improve with faster responses, greater reliability, and stronger safety systems as usage scales.

In the enterprise segment, more than nine million paying business users rely on ChatGPT for workplace applications. Organizations across sectors are deploying AI systems across engineering, support, finance, sales, and operations. OpenAI’s Frontier platform supports enterprise customers in building and managing AI-powered workflows.

Foundation Impact

The new valuation increases the value of the OpenAI Foundation’s stake in OpenAI Group to more than $180 billion. The company said the strengthened balance sheet will expand philanthropic capacity in areas including health research and AI resilience.

Chief Executive Sam Altman said the partnerships reflect a shared ambition to scale reliable and broadly useful AI systems globally. The funding positions OpenAI to expand infrastructure capacity and accelerate deployment as frontier AI moves into daily use.