Perplexity Through a Digital Due Diligence Lens: Why Apple Might See Strategic Value
This article assesses the digital footprint of Perplexity AI through the lens of Digital Due Diligence, driven by the strategic rationale behind Apple’s rumored acquisition.
Kinga Forró
Digital Business Analyst
The imperative to adopt AI for competitiveness
Asking an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool whether it likes gossip would be misguided. These systems do not associate themselves with such behaviour, instead prioritising verified facts over speculation. However, certain industry reports are simply too intriguing to ignore. One such unconfirmed report currently circulating suggests that Apple is allegedly in talks to take a step toward securing its future in the AI era: by acquiring Perplexity, valued at $14 billion. Whether this turns out to be true or not, this possibility illustrates how strategic acquisitions in AI, especially in the field of intelligent search assistants, can shape the future of digital ecosystems and intelligent search solutions.
Assessing Perplexity through the lens of Digital Due Diligence (DDD) can give a picture of its digital footprint and help determine whether the company’s technical foundation, scalability, and innovation pipeline justify the reported valuation.
Perplexity has gained rising prominence and widespread adoption as an AI-powered search assistant platform on a global scale. It generated an estimated $100 million in annual recurring revenue by March 2025, driven primarily by premium subscriptions and advertising. This milestone reflects an exceptionally rapid growth trajectory over roughly 20 months starting from late 2023, a period marking accelerated monetisation and expansion following the early establishment of its premium subscription service, Perplexity Pro, as confirmed by industry reports and statements from company leadership.
Its success highlights the growing demand for intuitive and conversational search experiences that go beyond traditional engines. For companies aspiring to lead in the evolving search assistant market, adapting to this shift in user expectations will likely be a key focus.
AI-generated image
What do digital insights tell us about Perplexity?
Since its launch, Perplexity AI has demonstrated impressive growth. Digital insights point to a strong online presence and a rapidly expanding user base, with daily queries reaching tens of millions by now. This growth is also reflected in increasing global visibility across the web, mobile apps, and browser extensions.
By mid-2025, Perplexity reached around 22 million monthly active users. It processes an estimated 780 million queries each month, which translates to an average of 30 million queries per day. In June 2025 alone, web analytics reported 141.3 million site visits, with 82.51% of traffic coming from desktop and 17.49% from mobile. User engagement remains high, with average visit durations of 13 minutes and 7 seconds, and users viewing around 4.4 pages per visit.
Perplexity maintains a modest but focused social media presence with cross-platform visibility, having around 1.4 million aggregated follower base. Among the leading AI search brands, social media presence remains fragmented with X serving as the primary used channel overall for community engagement, leaving room for growth in audience reach.
Perplexity as a brand is predominantly discussed with a positive sentiment, with users and professionals appreciating its real-time, synthesised answers that include credible citations. The brand is recognised for delivering accurate, timely information, which resonates especially well with researchers and experts. Its intuitive, Google-like interface and seamless integration with over 800 productivity platforms enhance user experience. Furthermore, Perplexity’s versatility, offering access to multiple advanced AI models like GPT-4 and Claud, and its commitment to privacy through end-to-end encryption contribute to the positive perception of the brand. Despite some noted concerns about security vulnerabilities with image uploads, occasional inconsistencies in information retrieval, and underdeveloped collaboration features, the overall discussion portrays Perplexity as a reliable, powerful AI-driven research assistant.
Perplexity snapshot
Brand keyword growth reflects brand momentum
Evaluating digital brand momentum among leading AI platforms requires a comparison of year-over-year (YoY) changes in branded keyword search volume. These figures offer a clear measure of how quickly a brand is gaining online interest and potential demand in digital. Shifts in branded search volume directly signal changes in a brand’s visibility and consumer curiosity. Rapid YoY increases typically indicate that a brand is breaking into new audiences or dramatically increasing its market presence.
Among the leading conversational AI brands currently shaping the market, ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Perplexity, Grok, Gemini, and Copilot stand out not just for their visibility but for the volume of branded search they attract. ChatGPT currently leads in total branded search volume with 618 million searches, followed by Gemini with 45.5 million, DeepSeek with 20.4 million, Perplexity and Copilot with 13.6 million, and Grok with 5 million. However, momentum tells a more dynamic story.
Grok and Deepseek demonstrated explosive YoY growth of 4,447% and 3,594%, respectively. By contrast, Gemini (234% YoY), ChatGPT (233% YoY), and Copilot (173% YoY) showed strong but more measured growth, indicating a shift from rapid early-stage expansion toward brand consolidation and sustained user engagement. Similarly, Perplexity (122% YoY) continued its upward trajectory, reflecting a broader trend among well-established players whose momentum is now driven less by novelty and more by deepening market presence and consistent user adoption.
Average monthly search volume on the brand name
Final Thoughts
Perplexity’s $14 billion valuation might be justified by the disruptive potential of the AI search market, as evidenced by its exceptional growth in revenue and user adoption. This high user engagement further underscores substantial monetisation potential and presents a strategic advantage for Apple. Moreover, the remarkable 86% CAGR in AI search interest from 2021 to 2024, with a 47% surge from 2024 to mid-2025, highlights a sustained trajectory of dynamic growth and the growing demand for AI-based services.
Perplexity’s real-time web search capabilities distinguish it from conventional link-based search engines. For Apple, incorporating such technology could help to establish a unique position in the AI search market. The potential synergies between them could revolutionise user experience by boosting device engagement while maintaining strong data privacy protections.
Given Perplexity’s rapid rise and Apple’s strategic interest, the question arises: how might their potential partnership reshape the dynamics of user engagement, brand trust, and competition in the increasingly AI-driven search market?
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