Chrome continues to assert its dominance in the industry, as the Google-powered browser has launched an update that, according to Google, makes it faster than Apple’s Safari browser, even on Apple devices.
To say Google Chrome is popular would be a dire understatement. The browser boasts 66% of market share, making it twice as popular as all of its competitors combined. Yes, all of them.
Apparently though, the lead can’t be big enough, as a recent update to Chrome will, according to Google, make the browser significantly faster, even faster than Safari when being used on Apple devices.
Google Chrome Update Makes It Faster
According to a Chromium Blog post this week, Google announced that the newest Chrome update — dubbed M99 — set a speed record on Apple’s Speedometer benchmark with a score of 300. In laymen’s terms, this comes out to Chrome being approximately 7% faster than Safari, even on Apple’s M1 devices that were launched last year.
“At the end of the day, what matters most is that Chrome is actually faster and more efficient in everyday usage, so we’ll continue to invest in innovative performance improvements that push the envelope of what’s possible in modern computing.”
Google Chrome hasn’t only made strides on Apple devices obviously. The company also stated that speed improvements are coming to Android as well, with page loading times taking 15% less time and start up time reduced by 13% on average.
Does Browser Speed Matter?
In earnest, a 7% difference in speed between Chrome and Safari is pretty negligible when it comes to the everyday user. Unless you’re a browser speed expert, you aren’t going to notice the difference between these two browsers on any of your devices.
The reality is that, while browser speed isn’t entirely unimportant, there are a wide range of other facets to consider when it comes to your browser. Chrome is notoriously a bit heavy, taking up more memory than other browsers when it’s working. Security is also important, and Chrome does pretty well on this, offering a wide range of customizable security tools to fit your particular needs.
From a business standpoint, though, having a website that loads fast is always beneficial. In fact, Google found that 53% of mobile users will abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. If you’re worried about your site scaring away customers with slow loading times, make sure you’ve got a good web hosting provider to keep your page up and running smoothly.
