Safari dominates mobile browser use in US, but toppled worldwide by Chrome

22 Apr 2015

Research into the browser preference of mobile and tablet users has found that Apple’s native browser Safari is the top choice in the US, however, Google Chrome has overtaken it worldwide.

The browser war is an incredibly competitive one, with the likes of Internet Explorer – a previous behemoth – leaving the battlefield for good after being wounded by first Firefox, then Safari and now Google Chrome.

Firefox itself is in a constant fight for survival against tech giants Google and Apple, and it’s those two that dominate the rankings around the world.

StatCounter’s latest look at preferences in the US shows that more than half of those using tablets or mobile use Safari, which is reflective of Apple’s strong market share there.

Chrome represents less than a third of all users in the US, with Android – at just 8.75pc – the only notable competitor of the also-rans.

StatCounter’s US browser rankings for mobile and tablet

“This emphasises the potential prize in the rapidly-growing mobile space for Yahoo!, Bing or others if Apple decides to end its default search deal with Google,” commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO of StatCounter.

In a quarterly earnings call in January, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer said that her company was definitely in the search distribution business and anyone who is in that business needs to be interested in the Safari deal.

StatCounter Global Stats reports that, in March, Safari took 55pc of US mobile and tablet usage share, followed by Chrome on 29.9pc and Android on 9.5pc.

So it’s actually fallen back a small bit, which actually reflects a global trend.

Indeed, since April 2014, Chrome has skyrocketed from a market share of around 15pc, right up to around 29pc, higher than that of Safari. Android – which performs far better globally than in the US – has also been hurt by Chrome’s rise.

Chrome clearly on the up globally

It really makes you think why these rival browsers don’t try clean up their homepages, Chrome’s clear standout USP being it’s remarkably white and open homepage.

Safari image, via Shutterstock

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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