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Is Samsung working on its own mobile browser?
Samsung's Android customers get their pick of a pretty broad selection of smartphone web browsers and soon, at least according to ETNews, Samsung is looking to follow up on its own Android UI additions with its own fully-fledged mobile browser. The company is reportedly seeking out WebKit engineers to work on the project at Samsung's Silicon Valley R&D center -- where work is already underway on the Chrome mobile rival. The open-source WebKit engine already underpins not only Google's own browser, but also its pre-ICS Android web browser -- and Apple's Safari. We've got in touch with Samsung who politely told us that it "doesn't comment on rumor or speculation."
StatCounter: Android web browser claims biggest user share
Android's native web browser can now lay claim to being the most popular mobile browser, according to StatCounter's latest survey. Mapping use over the past year, Google's mobile internet browser has grabbed around 23 percent of all users, up from just over 14 percent back in February 2011. The phone and tablet-based browser may have soaked up BlackBerry and Nokia users on its way to the top, with the two companies dropping browser share to six and 11 percent, respectively. Opera continues to hold its own, with a stable market share of around 21 percent throughout 2011, while the iPhone's Safari isn't far behind, notching up 20 percent by the end of last month. Conspicuous by its absence, Windows Phone's Internet Explorer hasn't made the table just yet and Google is surely hoping to see its mobile version of Chrome enter the table soon -- presumably once it's available on more than one device.
Android Browser leapfrogs Opera Mini, but Safari increases its lead
Web browser warriors have some more statistical firepower to play with, now that Net Applications has released the latest usage figures for mobile browsers. Google's vaguely titled Browser has inched up from a 16.3 percent share last month to 18.7 percent, counterbalanced by Opera Mini, which declined from just under 19 percent to 13.1 percent. Similarly, both Symbian and BlackBerry's mobile browsers dropped a few percentage points, down to 2.6 and 2.4 percent respectively. While rumors of a mobile-friendly version of Chrome continue to bounce around, there remains a substantial gap between second-place Android and the current mobile browser boss, Apple's Safari, which has now extended its dominance from 55.6 percent to 62.2 percent. The battle of the browsers wages on.
