Does Safari work on Windows or Android? Safaris market share is because other browser engines are restricted. The second Chrome becomes available on iOS Google search, maps, YouTube, everything will have "Works best in Chrome" plastered everywhere.
There's already a Chrome-branded Safari wrapper on iOS; but my guess is that the majority of iOS users use "regular" Safari and will continue to because it's the default.
Defaults can be powerful, but we have the numbers. Edge is the default Windows desktop browser and has 8-10% of the market. Apparently defaults are not more powerful than shipping a shitty product.
But the defaults on the PC and on the mobile are not the same. I can recall that Samsung Android phones shipped with preinstalled Samsung browser and actually a lot of people used Samsung's browser because they just wanted working internet browser.
Tbh I can't recall if at the time Google Chrome was also preinstalled or just "Google" app. But I can say that it wasn't very clear which browser is the default one in which situation. For example when you open a link inside some third party app sometimes it would hook Samsung browser and sometimes Google Chrome. Sometimes Android pop-up would ask me, use Samsung browser/Google Chrome "Just once" or "Always" and if you pick "Always", how do you change it afterwards? Easy solution would be if you prefer one browser over another just uninstall the one you don't like but if it was preinstalled or whatever, it kept coming back.
Eh, in 2023 it feels like most peoples experience with Windows is less “Personal” Computer and more “Appliance work sent me”. I’m pretty sure a lot of that is set by IT.
Who’s to say the EU won’t force Apple to have a “browser selection screen” on first start up where people will pick Chrome because that’s what they use on desktop.
Safari is unfortunately the last bulwark against a Chrome monoculture where Google will decide the future of the web - which they will of course design to assist and enhance their ad selling.
Google won't let you turn off internet permissions on sketchy apps, why does the flashlight app need internet? They know it is needed for ads. Turn off location on android and it warns you won't be able to find your phone. Why can't you quick toggle it off but leave on selectively for find your phone? Ads need it.
I have location off on my Pixel and I block ads with a Pi-hole. I can still find my phone if I log into Chrome on my Linux laptop. You can also do recursive DNS with Unbound and have the phone pointing to your Pi. You can do this with a Pi at home or set up via a droplet on Digital Ocean. You can set it up on DO so you don't have an open DNS resolver hanging out in the cloud.
For as far as I know, Chrome on Android has no support for plugins at all, whereas Safari on iOS does support plugins, including adblockers. I don’t see why Chromium would support plugins on iOS, since they obviously benefit from the fact that you can’t block ads.
And growing. People are waking up. I've been a Pi-hole user for 7 years now. I will never not use something like it. Works on phones, laptops, TVs, everything. Since Pi-hole won't block ads on YouTube, I use uBlock Origin for this on my laptop, PopTube on phone, and for my TV, disabled the NIC, put my Firestick in developer mode, downloaded SmartTubeNext and have not seen an ad on any platform I control in years. I cannot fathom how people deal with ads. SmartTubeNext also blocks sponsors, which are just as bad. The second some YTer starts to shill, that's the second I bail from their channel. Finding indy channels that just provide info is increasingly difficult.
Economically, Mozilla is a subsidiary of Google. Honestly, they keep arguing it is not the case, but they excellently serve as non-threatening competition.
