I don't know, defaults are pretty powerful.

There's already a Chrome-branded Safari wrapper on iOS; but my guess is that the majority of iOS users use "regular" Safari and will continue to because it's the default.

I don’t think they will. Safari doesn’t have good plugins. That’s a big point. Using plugins.

For as far as I know, Chrome on Android has no support for plugins at all, whereas Safari on iOS does support plugins, including adblockers. I don’t see why Chromium would support plugins on iOS, since they obviously benefit from the fact that you can’t block ads.

You should try kiwi

I'm mostly a Firefox on Android user, does Chrome on Android have plugins now? I know it didn't for a while.

I assume you mean extensions, not plugins. No, Chrome doesn't support extensions on android, but some Chromium reskins do.

That said, the most important extension usecase is adblocking, and with Manifest v4 and FLoC/Topics and SafetyNet/remote attestation, well...

Chrome's adblocking capabilities, introduced in Manifest v3, are (1) inspired by Safari and (2) more capable than what Safari provides.

You can track this uBlock Origin Lite issue: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/issues/52

The typical browser user doesn't even know what plugins/extensions are, much less use any.

Not quite true, around 800 million people use adblockers[0].

[0] https://www.statista.com/topics/3201/ad-blocking/

That is a minority of browser users.

30% of adblock user penetration in the US is not that neglectable.

That is a different claim. And many of them used DNS ad blocks probably. Or were happy with Safari extensions.

And growing. People are waking up. I've been a Pi-hole user for 7 years now. I will never not use something like it. Works on phones, laptops, TVs, everything. Since Pi-hole won't block ads on YouTube, I use uBlock Origin for this on my laptop, PopTube on phone, and for my TV, disabled the NIC, put my Firestick in developer mode, downloaded SmartTubeNext and have not seen an ad on any platform I control in years. I cannot fathom how people deal with ads. SmartTubeNext also blocks sponsors, which are just as bad. The second some YTer starts to shill, that's the second I bail from their channel. Finding indy channels that just provide info is increasingly difficult.

Who’s to say the EU won’t force Apple to have a “browser selection screen” on first start up where people will pick Chrome because that’s what they use on desktop.

Safari is unfortunately the last bulwark against a Chrome monoculture where Google will decide the future of the web - which they will of course design to assist and enhance their ad selling.

Google won't let you turn off internet permissions on sketchy apps, why does the flashlight app need internet? They know it is needed for ads. Turn off location on android and it warns you won't be able to find your phone. Why can't you quick toggle it off but leave on selectively for find your phone? Ads need it.

I have location off on my Pixel and I block ads with a Pi-hole. I can still find my phone if I log into Chrome on my Linux laptop. You can also do recursive DNS with Unbound and have the phone pointing to your Pi. You can do this with a Pi at home or set up via a droplet on Digital Ocean. You can set it up on DO so you don't have an open DNS resolver hanging out in the cloud.

When every site you visit in safari says best viewed in chrome, people will switch to chrome just to not see that message

Defaults can be powerful, but we have the numbers. Edge is the default Windows desktop browser and has 8-10% of the market. Apparently defaults are not more powerful than shipping a shitty product.

Eh, in 2023 it feels like most peoples experience with Windows is less “Personal” Computer and more “Appliance work sent me”. I’m pretty sure a lot of that is set by IT.

But the defaults on the PC and on the mobile are not the same. I can recall that Samsung Android phones shipped with preinstalled Samsung browser and actually a lot of people used Samsung's browser because they just wanted working internet browser.

Tbh I can't recall if at the time Google Chrome was also preinstalled or just "Google" app. But I can say that it wasn't very clear which browser is the default one in which situation. For example when you open a link inside some third party app sometimes it would hook Samsung browser and sometimes Google Chrome. Sometimes Android pop-up would ask me, use Samsung browser/Google Chrome "Just once" or "Always" and if you pick "Always", how do you change it afterwards? Easy solution would be if you prefer one browser over another just uninstall the one you don't like but if it was preinstalled or whatever, it kept coming back.