- other browsers exist for iOS, and users seem not to care that much for the alternatives, but…
- if other engines are permitted, then user-facing differentiators like extensions will make their way to competing browsers on iOS.
Outside of PWAs, I can’t think of many other features other than maybe arbitrary file upload that requires more hooks into the OS (as opposed to greater control of the browser engine). Genuinely interested in hearing/thinking of more, if you have any.
It’s not a stretch; it’s silly to say otherwise. Regardless of the rendering engine and the ability to make a 3rd-party browser the default on iOS which has been a thing for a few years now, Safari is the most popular browser on iOS and iOS runs on something like 1.5+ billion devices worldwide.
Normies don’t know and don’t care about the rendering engine when they use Firefox, Brave, Chrome, etc. on iOS and yet those browsers probably have single digit installed base on iOS.
And nothing would meaningfully change even if Firefox and Chrome ran natively on iOS.
Example: "Firefox has an extension that allows you to download videos from youtube -- it's way better than Safari."
I use Brave on iOS often because it makes doing certain things easier than Safari and it’s UI is quite good.