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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,456
30,667



According to the latest report from Net Applications (via All Things D), Apple's Safari continues to be the top mobile browser.

Safari for iOS was responsible for 61.79% of total mobile internet traffic during the month of March, an increase from 55.41% in February. Safari's closest competitor for mobile browser dominance was Google's Android browser, which had a 21.86% share of Web traffic in March.

safarimarketshare2013.jpg
Opera Mini came in third with 8.4%, Chrome registered 2.43%, and Microsoft Internet Explorer was the final major contender, with 1.99%.

Net Applications includes traffic from both smartphones and tablets, and the data that it collects comes from more than 160 million visits to 40,000 websites each month.

Article Link: Safari Dominates as Top Mobile Browser with 62% of Internet Traffic
 

Jayomat

macrumors 6502a
Jan 10, 2009
703
0
Well apple prohibits the implementation of other browsers, which makes every other browser a safari skin (basically)
 

baryon

macrumors 68040
Oct 3, 2009
3,877
2,924
"Apple is getting boring and people are switching to Android, obviously"
"The lack of innovation is making Android a better option than the iPhone"

I'm not saying anything about the two major competitors, I just want to point out that Safari having such an advantage means that iOS devices are being used a lot more than Android devices, regardless of any sales figures, profits, market share, etc… Which means, quite obviously, that iOS is not doing bad at all compared to everything out there. People still prefer browsing the web (which is the most significant thing you do on a smartphone/tablet) on iOS, for some reason…
 

Ted13

macrumors 6502a
Dec 29, 2003
669
353
NYC
Queue all the "But, but but, Android users change their user agent to spoof Safari!" comments.

Again and again more proof that "shipment" and "activation" numbers are meaningless -- sales and usage is what actually counts. And curiously the profit share in mobile is quite close to the usage share...
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,555
6,053
I'm surprised Android's browser is 10x more popular than Chrome. Every Android device I developed for at work, I installed Chrome on because I preferred it to whatever Android browser the various devices came with.
 

shurcooL

macrumors 6502a
Jan 24, 2011
938
117
I use Chrome for iOS, but like others said, I suspect there's a good chance reports itself as Safari?
 

rmatthewware

macrumors 6502
Jul 22, 2009
493
125
Well apple prohibits the implementation of other browsers, which makes every other browser a safari skin (basically)

That would mean something if we were only talking about Apple phones. This is for all mobile phones: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, etc. Being that Apple holds less than 50% of phone market share, the fact they are holding above 60% of web traffic means people with iPhones are getting more out of them.
 

thehustleman

macrumors 65816
Jan 3, 2013
1,123
1
I don't buy this.

People aren't buying phones just to have them, they buy them to use them.

I seriously question the legitimacy of this
 

eawmp1

macrumors 601
Feb 19, 2008
4,158
91
FL
I use Chrome for iOS, but like others said, I suspect there's a good chance reports itself as Safari?

I would suspect you are in a SMALL minority of iDevice users using an alternate browser. The average Joe is going to use the default Safari.

The data is impressive in that iDevice users generate more traffic per device than all other mobile devices COMBINED.
 

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
Well apple prohibits the implementation of other browsers, which makes every other browser a safari skin (basically)

Meanwhile, both Chrome and the Android browser are also Webkit-based... even with no prohibition they seem to recognize that Apple's browser engine is the best!


I don't buy this.

People aren't buying phones just to have them, they buy them to use them.

I seriously question the legitimacy of this

Surprising, I agree--but it's an old surprise: data from every source has pointed in this same direction for ages. So why aren't Android users going online as much? I see at least three likely contributing factors--bearing in mind that we tech-savvy forum-goers are not the public at large:

1. People do NOT always buy Android phones to use them. A certain chunk of people take whatever free or cheap phone the carrier salesperson can push on them, with whatever data plan they can be talked into, and really don't know what they're getting or why. They proceed to keep making phone calls and not much else, which was all they ever did before.

2. Some Android phones are just awful. There are hundreds of them that are not well-known poster devices, just junk shoveled out the door with a free OS. My friend was excited to get a free smartphone with browser and email... but discovered that she hates it. She does use it anyway, but surprisingly little. Can't wait for an iPhone next time.

3. Even at its best, the Android experience as a whole is not as good as the iOS experience. Fewer apps, more malware, more mysterious battery drain, less careful UI, more confusion, more outdated software rather than receiving the latest OS version. And human nature means that if something doesn't work quite as well, you naturally won't use it quite as much. By analogy, compare two apps for the same phone--weather apps, say. One works better than the other; users of that app will use it more! Same applies to entire phones/OS's.
 
Last edited:

Ryth

macrumors 68000
Apr 21, 2011
1,591
157
I use Chrome for iOS, but like others said, I suspect there's a good chance reports itself as Safari?

The point is you're still using an Apple device...not the others which are dominating Apple according to every new source out there.

----------

I would suspect you are in a SMALL minority of iDevice users using an alternate browser. The average Joe is going to use the default Safari.

The data is impressive in that iDevice users generate more traffic per device than all other mobile devices COMBINED.

I don't find it impressive...I think that most of us that use logic and our brains know that Apple is the dominant device by a huge margin out there.

Only the fandroids and Samsung paid media are touting that Apple was doomed and loosing rapid market share.
 

Karma*Police

macrumors 68030
Jul 15, 2012
2,514
2,850
I'm surprised Android's browser is 10x more popular than Chrome. Every Android device I developed for at work, I installed Chrome on because I preferred it to whatever Android browser the various devices came with.

Most Android users don't even change their home screens so it's not that surprising, actually.
 

inlinevolvo

macrumors 6502
Jul 11, 2012
359
3
I prefer chrome as well. Mainly because I like that I can listen to you tube videos. It would be great if apple allowed us to change default apps as well.
 

gatearray

macrumors 65816
Apr 24, 2010
1,130
232
I don't buy this.

People aren't buying [Android] phones just to have them, they buy them to use them.

I seriously question the legitimacy of this

of course they buy Android phones to use them, they make and receive phone calls and text messages. they just don't download apps or surf the web generally speaking, but many of us around here already knew that for quite some time.
 

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,116
31,140
Can 3rd party browsers change the user-agent and if so, is this used for this chart?

Well Android fanboys usually claim they change their user agent so their statistics show up as desktop, not mobile. I question how many Android users actually do that. But it would be interesting to know how Net Applications determines mobile vs. desktop.
 

2457282

Suspended
Dec 6, 2012
3,327
3,015
So I may not understand things here and hope to be informed. But dont most people actually use apps? How does that get tracked? Would that show up as using a browser? I ask all this because I use safari on my iphone, but as I think about it, I probably use the apps more. I bank via the app, not the browser. I check the weather via the app not the browser. Etc. So although this still is a telling chart about usage, I am just not sure if it really says the whole story about how people use their phones.
 

roadbloc

macrumors G3
Aug 24, 2009
8,784
215
UK
I thought Android was supposed to be the Linux of mobile, where only the really cheap or the really savvy use it?

You're living in the past. Android based handsets have come on leaps and bounds. Obviously they still offer budget models for them with little money spare.
 

BlueHusky

macrumors member
Apr 3, 2013
38
0
Washington DC
I wish chrome on iPhone was just as fast as safari. This is an unfair result created by not allowing other apps to use the fastest engine.
 

DigiSociety

macrumors newbie
Apr 3, 2013
1
0
iOS Chrome doesnt user agent

I use Chrome for iOS, but like others said, I suspect there's a good chance reports itself as Safari?

I took a quick look in Google Analytics and it does make a distinction between Mobile Safari and Chrome on iOS devices.

ios-chrome.png
 
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