AFAIK, both ways should still work. The settings app is just a replacement for "Default Apps and Programs" (or something like that) which was in since Windows 7, maybe even Vista.
Edit: At least in Chrome, clicking "Make Google Chrome the default browser" opens up the settings app to the correct view, so it's only a matter of selecting the existing browser and choosing Chrome. It's not one click anymore, which kind of sucks, but I wouldn't call it hard, even for an average user.
Been that way for a couple months in technical preview builds, with even first party software (OneNote desktop vs modern) continuing to ask if you want to set it as default, followed by a system popup telling you to use the Settings app.
I suspect its a far less sinister reasoning for the change.
You'd have to ask someone inside MS if you want to know what they were thinking.
Especially when you've previously been in antitrust lawsuits over abusing your position as the OS developer to take over the browser market.
> It may be easy to set your new default browser, but it's one more thing I have to do to personalize my computer, instead of using my computer to do the tasks at hand.
They moved it into the settings app, so this is no longer just "Open Firefox, click 'set as default'" anymore. Changing it in the Settings app is easy for us, but incomprehensible to less proficient users. I understand why they changed that, but it makes forcing Edge as default a huge dick move on MS's part.