Skip to main content

Safari hits milestone in uphill battle against Chrome

Apple’s Safari browser is now serving over 1 billion people, according to a study by Atlas VPN, a first for the company.

Despite the admirable milestone, the browser still lags significantly behind Google Chrome, which remains the top dog in terms of web browser usage. However, this study claims that Safari strongly holds the second-place spot with 1,006,232,879 users, which is 19.16% of all internet users, Atlas VPN notes. Meanwhile, Google Chrome has 3,378,967,819 of all internet users, and Microsoft Edge is in third with 212,695,000 users.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The study also noted that Safari coming preinstalled on all Apple devices, including iPhones and Mac computers, contributed to it reaching the 1 billion-plus users milestone.

Recommended Videos

Meanwhile, Google has carried favor with users through its applications and services, such as YouTube, Drive, Calendar, Docs, Earth, and Maps, which work best on its Chrome browser. Google suggests users install Chrome when they use these products for a better user experience.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Apple has struggled with the reception of its browser over the years. The brand introduced a revamp of Safari for iOS 15 at WWDC in 2021, unveiling easier navigation and updated privacy controls for the browser.

In February 2022, Apple evangelists heard harsh truths about what users thought of the new Safari browser. Many complained about frequent bugs, inconsistent user experience, and website incompatibility despite the Safari 15 redesign. Apple ultimately defaulted back to a more conventional layout, making made the redesigned elements only an alternative.

But 9to5Mac expects Apple to address privacy features once again on Safari with iOS 16 at the upcoming WWDC, which takes place from June 6 to June 10.

Safari isn’t the only browser struggling for recognition against the behemoth that is Google Chrome. Mozilla Firefox recently observed its 100th version update in early May; however, it stands as the fourth-most-used web browser on the internet, according to data from Statcounter. It is also in fourth place among Atlas VPN research with 179,084,244 users.

Firefox is known for introducing many now-common browser features, such as improved picture-in-picture mode, subtitles and captions, wallpapers for mobile users, and an HTTPS-first setting, according to TechRadar.

Fionna Agomuoh
Fionna Agomuoh is a Computing Writer at Digital Trends. She covers a range of topics in the computing space, including…
Here’s why I finally gave up on using Safari on my Mac
A MacBook owner using Google Sheets.

I have a web browser confession to make: I’m an inveterate tab hoarder. I’ve tried to change. I've tried to cull open tabs and tried to resist opening new ones -- but somehow the open tab counter just keeps on rising. At this point, I think I’m beyond saving.

What I’ve learned is that I need a macOS web browser that can accommodate me, that has learned to accept my tab-based failings without judgement or chastisement. And after many years of trying, it turns out that Safari is not that browser.
The tab problem

Read more
Google witness accidentally reveals how much Apple gets for Safari search
The Google "G" logo on an Android phone.

As part of a deal to be the default search engine on Apple devices, Google pays the tech giant 36% of the revenue earned via search ad activity on Apple's Safari browser.

It’s extremely rare for information of this nature to be made public. In this case, it was released during Google’s defense at the Justice Department's antitrust trial in Washington, D.C.

Read more
Chrome is still a RAM killer, but this new feature would be a huge help
Google Chrome icon in mac dock.

Google’s Chrome browser is infamous for consuming a lot of RAM. While recent updates have attempted to solve this problem from a technical side, a new feature may put more of the management in the hands of the user.
With the latest beta version of Chrome Canary, users can now simply hover their mouse cursor over a tab to gain access to real-time memory usage of that specific tab.
Up until now, you had to dig into the Chrome Task Manager to see how much memory each tab is consuming. But as reported by Windows Central, the new feature would give you quick and direct access to this important information. The prototype feature was first posted on X (formerly Twitter) by user Leopeva64 and showed the tab RAM usage.

Of course, it only gives a small overview and doesn’t offer the same detailed information (such as running processes, tabs, and extensions0 as the built-in task manager.
Practically speaking, having a small indicator on the top is going to make the process of clearing unwanted tabs a lot easier. The new feature is also said to inform users about whether Chrome's Memory saver feature has actively frozen a tab to save memory similar to Microsoft Edge's Sleeping tabs feature. Of course, this feature only works when a certain tab is inactive for a long period of time. 
Google is said to be testing this feature, but if you are using version 117 on the Stable Channel, you may get access to it. To enable the memory usage feature, head to Chrome://flags and search for Show memory usage in hovercards. Select the dropdown and enable it. A quick restart may also be required.
Recently, we saw Google testing on a feature that helps organize tabs in a more efficient way. Using the Organize Tabs features, the browser attempts to reorder your tabs into groups of similar pages. It even lets you rename these groups, and create tab groups automatically once it has categorized your tabs.

Read more