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Android web-browser now most popular in the mobile segment

by Alistair Lowe on 5 March 2012, 10:25

Tags: Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)

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It's official, folks, at least according to StatCounter. Last month saw the Android web-browser overtake other mobile competitors in user-share for the first time in what has been part of a slow yet ever increasing usage trend.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Mobile Browser Market Share

Previous crown-holder Opera had gained popularity as a faster and more versatile multi-platform offering, that users of varying devices and mobile operating systems could rely on; a rock in the ever-changing mobile world. However, the increase in Android's popularity, the stock availability of the browser and a constant stream of improvements and enhancements has seen a new mobile king take to the throne, holding 22.67 per cent of the market.

Next to overtake Opera is Apple's iPhone web-browser, which, since Christmas, has been following Android from behind but in an almost parallel trend. Whilst there are currently no signs that the trend separating the two browsers will change in the near future, Android will have to look out given the close proximity of its Apple competitor.

HEXUS Forums :: 9 Comments

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Posted by crossy - Mon 05 Mar 2012 11:00
I've got a couple of web browsers on my Android tablet, and Opera plus Firefox on my phone (also Android) because I find some browser work better with certain sites.

That said, I find I'm using Opera less and less because there's been some weird issues with it. For example, today I tried looking for prices in Google Shopping (in Classic view) for a Galaxy S2 on my phone, only to be told that there was no such search term. When I repeated the process in the stock browser I got what I wanted. I've also had issues with timeouts, and “interesting” rendering of some pages with Opera.

Fascinated to see that the iPod Touch figures seem to be (more or less) holding steady. I got the distinct impression that shops were really pushing the Touch (e.g. much local HMV always seems to have one offer or another on it month on month). I'd also suggest that it's probably a pleasing set of figures for Apple, given that there are reputedly more Android phones out there than iPhones.
Posted by cheesemp - Mon 05 Mar 2012 11:16
I use the Dolphin browser on my droid. Is that this Dolfin browser mentioned (a typo) or does Dolphin get shown as Android (I know it uses the same components under the hood)?
Posted by Scribe - Mon 05 Mar 2012 11:20
crossy
I've got a couple of web browsers on my Android tablet, and Opera plus Firefox on my phone (also Android) because I find some browser work better with certain sites.

That said, I find I'm using Opera less and less because there's been some weird issues with it. For example, today I tried looking for prices in Google Shopping (in Classic view) for a Galaxy S2 on my phone, only to be told that there was no such search term. When I repeated the process in the stock browser I got what I wanted. I've also had issues with timeouts, and “interesting” rendering of some pages with Opera.

Running Android 4.0 web-browser on my Galaxy S II, I couldn't ask for more, it's as quick as it gets, it has great HTML5 and flash support and now has smooth zooming etc. Whilst in the past I've looked to other browsers, except for more in-depth functionality I'm finding there's less and less need, the Android 4.0 offering is exceptional.
Posted by crossy - Mon 05 Mar 2012 11:36
Scribe
Running Android 4.0 web-browser on my Galaxy S II, I couldn't ask for more, it's as quick as it gets, it has great HTML5 and flash support and now has smooth zooming etc. Whilst in the past I've looked to other browsers, except for more in-depth functionality I'm finding there's less and less need, the Android 4.0 offering is exceptional.
I'll agree - when I went from Honeycomb to ICS on my Transformer, I went from "why won't you work you $%£* !!!" when doing Hexus posts to something akin to the desktop experience. That said, I've still found the odd site where Dolphin for Pad or Firefox works better - Virgin Media's TV guide is one such site.

Chome on Android looks reasonable, give it a couple of months (and hence the usual one-new-version-a-week we're used to from Chrome) and it'll probably be my browser of choice.
Posted by Jenny_Y8S - Mon 05 Mar 2012 14:28
Oh look, they've excluded iPads from the stats and decided to count the iPhone and iPod as using different browsers while counting everything Android as a single entity. It's also global stats and therefore serious skewed by countries such as India that have a completely different usage pattern than the rest of the world.

So funnily enough they now say Android web usage is more than “iOS”. Serious flawed statistics, especially when other analysts are putting the iOS vs Android split to be 60% vs 20%.

Source:
http://netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0&qpcustomd=1

Shame on Hexus for reporting this without doing their research. You should have pointed out this “statistic” is not only incomplete but seriously contradicted by other more respected sources.

No doubt that in number of devices sold Android serious spanks iOS but in the “Which gets used more for the internet” and “Which generates the most web traffic” (Admittedly two different figures) iOS is champ. Many android phones get sold and then never used online, this is well known in the industry, it's been reported time and time again.

Hexus, you should have known this too.

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