Safari still leads in mobile browser share, but Facebook's browser is on the rise

Posted:
in General Discussion edited August 2020
A new study shows Safari and Chrome are still dominant on mobile devices, but Facebook is coming on strong to try to claim the mobile crown.

Safari


According to a new study from analytics firm Mixpanel, Facebook's in-app web browser now accounts for an average of 7.6 percent of mobile browser market share in the United States. This places Facebook behind only Apple's Safari with 58.4 percent and Google's Chrome at 33.3 percent.

The most recent measure of domestic browser market share, by Statcounter last month, placed Safari in first place with 49.4 percent, followed by Chrome with 43.1 percent. Facebook was not listed in those rankings.

In terms of overall platform use, Mixpanel found that 65.5 percent of Americans use iOS, compared to 34.5 percent using Android. As for carriers, the study said, 28.6 percent of users use Verizon, with 27.1 percent using AT&T.

Counterpoint, as of May, listed the iPhone at 42 percent U.S. market share. The study also splits off the market share numbers by state, and reports that Safari is the top mobile web browser in each of the 50 states.

Mixpanel's study surveyed 20,000-plus of the firm's customers, covering 3 billion individual events.

The numbers show that while Safari maintains its dominant position, more and more users are reaching the web through Facebook's ecosystem. This represents a change in users' consumption of content, as they're at the mercy of Facebook's algorithm, and all of its notable shortcomings.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 24
    nunzynunzy Posts: 662member
    65.5% of Americans use iOS? Is that accurate?

    I thought that iPhone had around 35 or 40% of the American market. Does iPad make up the difference?
    edited August 2018 LukeCageqwwera
  • Reply 2 of 24
    arthurbaarthurba Posts: 154member
    On iOS everything is Safari right (or WebKit or whatever - the same engine)? On iOS app makers still must use the Apple supplied web browser calls - Apple won’t approve any alternative web browser engines for iOS right?  So are these stats about actual web browsers or just apps?  Ie: on iOS if you use the Facebook app to browse the web does that show up as Safari or as Facebook?
    gatorguy
  • Reply 3 of 24
    tedp88tedp88 Posts: 20member
    Facebook browser?! What is wrong with people?
    williamlondonSnickersMagoojeff_cookmacseekerJWSCMplsPolspscooter63jbdragonchristopher126
  • Reply 4 of 24
    For all the crap from FB lately... i'm starting to think of FB just like I think of Google, Samdung and Android....as in I want nothing to do with it!!!
    williamlondonmacseekerolsLukeCagelamboaudi4toysandmemike54acejax805lostkiwiwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 24
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    arthurba said:
    On iOS everything is Safari right (or WebKit or whatever - the same engine)? On iOS app makers still must use the Apple supplied web browser calls - Apple won’t approve any alternative web browser engines for iOS right?  So are these stats about actual web browsers or just apps?  Ie: on iOS if you use the Facebook app to browse the web does that show up as Safari or as Facebook?
    Who gives a rat’s ass? What does browser market share have to do with anything? Browsers are supposed to support W3C standards and websites are supposed to be platform agnostic, use any browser you wish. Nerds arguing about features is about the only thing I can see using this survey to pound away at each other’s browser choices. Ooooo, Firefox is closing in on Chrome and Safari. Do we actually want a winner? Do we think it would be a good idea to have a single browser become the only browser we use? 
    racerhomie3
  • Reply 6 of 24
    bb-15bb-15 Posts: 283member
    nunzy said:
    65.5% of Americans use iOS? Is that accurate?

    I thought that iPhone had around 35 or 40% of the American market. Does iPad make up the difference?
    From the website linked in the article; 

    We looked at data from millions of users across Mixpanel’s 20,000-plus customers to study the state of mobile in the first half of 2018.” 

    Mixpanel was founded in 2009 and had an app to track user interactions in their Android or iOS app beginning in 2015.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixpanel

    This is a very new company and I would think that at this early stage in their history that the company’s data is probably not very accurate. 
    nunzymuthuk_vanalingamqwweraacejax805
  • Reply 7 of 24
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    tedp88 said:
    Facebook browser?! What is wrong with people?
    Exactly. Who in their right mind would use a browser from Facebook? The icon for the Facebook browser should be the words "I'm With Stupid" with an arrow pointing toward the user.
    JWSCmacseekerpscooter63jbdragonGG1lamboaudi4TomEtallest skilsmiffy31Rayz2016
  • Reply 8 of 24
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,673member
    nunzy said:
    65.5% of Americans use iOS? Is that accurate?

    I thought that iPhone had around 35 or 40% of the American market. Does iPad make up the difference?

    Market share is not the same thing as installed base (usage share).

    Market share is a percentage of the market based off quarterly shipment figures, which I believe Apple is around 35-40% in the U.S.

    Browser share as measured above is actual usage figures. It doesn’t surprise me that iOS still has a larger share - it always has, as iOS users have proven to be more engaged with their devices and platform.


    pscooter63jbdragonLukeCagetoysandmewatto_cobraarthurba
  • Reply 9 of 24
    jimh2jimh2 Posts: 611member
    For many Facebook is the internet just as AOL was in years past (it probably still is for some). This is not good for the internet in general because it means a lot of people are using one website for all of their internet needs. I don't use Facebook and never have so I am not familiar with how the inline browser appears. I am thinking the user probably does not know what they are looking at is through a web browser. In the end the ultimate goal of Facebook is to be your portal to the internet via a web browser that is only used to open the Facebook site. 
    macseekerLukeCagetoysandmelostkiwiwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 24
    nunzy said:
    65.5% of Americans use iOS? Is that accurate?

    I thought that iPhone had around 35 or 40% of the American market. Does iPad make up the difference?
    but yes... "iOS" numbers would not be limited to phones... that would include all iPads and iPod touch devices as well.

    And the numbers are saying 65% of mobile WEB TRAFFIC... not 65% of mobile PHONES.
    nunzyRayz2016acejax805
  • Reply 11 of 24
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,911member
    tedp88 said:
    Facebook browser?! What is wrong with people?
    This. Time a million. I find it bad enough when Facebook scrapes data from browser history, etc, but using a Facebook browser is about the same as letting zuckerberg follow you around all day. 
    macseekerLukeCageRayz2016acejax805lostkiwiwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 24
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,305member
    tedp88 said:
    Facebook browser?! What is wrong with people?
    Facebook has a browser? What's wrong with people when they think the Internet is Facebook? Yuck!!!!
    macseekerwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 24
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 2,664member
    Something must be missing from the explanation. 

    No no one uses facebooks browser as a browser. 

    But if you jump from a Facebook app to other linked articles, then there you go. It’s all in the app usage - or in safari if you log in that way. 

    A bit misleading on its face. 

    Thanks TechCrunch for your lame way of rewriting terms. 

    A DED article explaining the reality of the situation is probably forthcoming. 
    edited August 2018 LukeCageberndogGeorgeBMaclostkiwiwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 24
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,305member
    jimh2 said:
    For many Facebook is the internet just as AOL was in years past (it probably still is for some). This is not good for the internet in general because it means a lot of people are using one website for all of their internet needs. I don't use Facebook and never have so I am not familiar with how the inline browser appears. I am thinking the user probably does not know what they are looking at is through a web browser. In the end the ultimate goal of Facebook is to be your portal to the internet via a web browser that is only used to open the Facebook site. 
    Ya, for some people, Facebook is the Internet. Pretty sick or what? My Facebook usage is pretty limited. 1 maybe 2 times MAX and I limit it to a few minutes. There's very little info about me on that site. Just enough to get in touch with long lost friends, which it has done.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 24
    tedp88 said:
    Facebook browser?! What is wrong with people?
    Haha Ted. Made me smile.

    I think the same thing every time a I see a commercial for Taco Bell Cheesy Fries!

    Are they trying to kill us? :)
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 24
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,239member
    On iOS, this is the WebKit-based browser that Facebook has embedded into their app. It's not technically a "Facebook browser" as the click-magnet headline leads one to believe. But when a developer does embed the WebView into an application, they have the flexibility to customize the user-facing behaviour and experience. This is likely what the editor meant when he described it as the Facebook browser.

    Safari is just another app that uses WebKit, and has its own "chrome", design and behaviours. Each browser on iOS tries to give the user a better experience, but they all use the same rendering engine (for now).
    arthurba
  • Reply 17 of 24
    kevin keekevin kee Posts: 1,289member
    arthurba said:
    On iOS everything is Safari right (or WebKit or whatever - the same engine)? On iOS app makers still must use the Apple supplied web browser calls - Apple won’t approve any alternative web browser engines for iOS right?  So are these stats about actual web browsers or just apps?  Ie: on iOS if you use the Facebook app to browse the web does that show up as Safari or as Facebook?
    I think if you used Chrome or Firefox on iOS, they won't be called Safari, but as Chrome or Firefox.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 24
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    tedp88 said:
    Facebook browser?! What is wrong with people?
    It’s a really great browser. No one else comes close to its intuitiveness. Even before you can go to type in your username and password it fills them in for you. No extra app, like 1Password, required.

    But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. On Facebook it will auto-like things you know you’ll like, and on forums it will auto-type messages as it learns how your frame your responds. It’s really amazing tech. Even when start to use your device it will go to the pages and look up stuff you were just talking about with your friends over the phone.
    edited August 2018 tallest skilwatto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 24
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    tedp88 said:
    Facebook browser?! What is wrong with people?
    I am not sure.Maybe they are very clever people. I do use Facebook for certain groups but I had no idea such a thing even existed. ???
  • Reply 20 of 24
    TomETomE Posts: 172member
    Well, what will FB think of next?  A FB OS for a computer.  Doe this mean we can soon run Web Based Apps on FB.  Pages, Word, Excel, Photoshop, Filemaker, etc.  I want no part of FB.  I have just spent the last hour looking at my 1 month account updates.  99% pure junk.  Maybe I will cut back to 1 hour of FB every 3 months.  Still glad I sold the FB stock & invested elsewhere - in a sock.
    mike54watto_cobra
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