Chrome held 67.64% of mobile browser market share worldwide in September 2026, according to Statcounter Global Stats. Safari held 24.71% and Samsung Internet 3.5%. Mobile held 58.99% of Statcounter’s desktop, mobile and tablet market share worldwide that month, against 39.26% for desktop. The mobile browser usage statistics below follow ten years of that shift, by region and by country.
The bigger shift sits in the US, where Chrome reached 47.44% of mobile browser share in September 2026 against Safari’s 46.38%. Safari had led Chrome on US mobile in every full year of Statcounter’s series from 2016 to 2025. The figures below also cover browser versions and how Cloudflare, DataReportal and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) measure mobile use.
Key Takeaways
- Chrome and Safari together held 92.35% of mobile browser market share worldwide in September 2026.
- Chrome’s worldwide mobile share rose from 38.38% in 2016 to 68.38% in 2025, a gain of 30 percentage points.
- UC Browser fell from 17.56% of worldwide mobile browser share in 2016 to 1.23% in 2025.
- On US mobile, Chrome’s 47.44% edged past Safari’s 46.38% in September 2026.
- Mobile held 58.99% of Statcounter’s platform share in September 2026, against 51.6% of web traffic in DataReportal’s April 2026 data and 43% of requests to Cloudflare in 2025.
- India’s mobile platform share reached 77.3% in September 2026, against 22.1% for desktop.
Editor’s Choice
- Chrome’s global mobile share: 67.64% in September 2026.
- Safari’s global mobile share: 24.71% in September 2026.
- Mobile’s slice of all platform use: 58.99% in September 2026.
- Chrome for Android’s version share: 61.83% in September 2026.
- People online worldwide: 6.12 billion at the start of April 2026.
- Opera’s average monthly users: 288 million in Q2 2026.
Mobile Browser Market Share Worldwide
- Chrome led worldwide mobile browsing with 67.64% in September 2026.
- Chrome’s lead over Safari stood at 42.93 percentage points.
- Chrome and Safari together accounted for 92.35% of mobile browser share worldwide in September 2026.
- Chrome’s share stood at 71.01% in September 2025 in Statcounter’s monthly data.
| Mobile browser | Share worldwide, September 2026 (%) |
|---|---|
| Chrome | 67.64 |
| Safari | 24.71 |
| Samsung Internet | 3.5 |
| Opera | 1.38 |
| UC Browser | 0.78 |
| Firefox | 0.69 |
Source: Statcounter, September 2026
What is the most used mobile browser?
Chrome held 67.64% of mobile browser market share worldwide in September 2026, according to Statcounter Global Stats, against 24.71% for Safari. That puts Chrome first by a wide margin. Safari’s share rests on the iPhone user base, while Chrome draws on Android and also runs on iOS.
About This Data
Compiled from 39 sources: 34 Statcounter Global Stats pages and data exports, plus Cloudflare, DataReportal, the International Telecommunication Union, Opera and Google. Data runs from 2016 to October 2026. Only publisher data pages, company releases, and official statistics qualified. Figures are reviewed on a rolling basis and updated when sources publish new editions.
Chrome vs Safari Mobile Share by Year
- Chrome’s worldwide mobile share rose from 38.38% in 2016 to 68.38% in 2025.
- That is a gain of 30 percentage points in nine years.
- Safari moved from 17.92% in 2016 to 25.42% in 2023, then eased to 21.87% in 2025.
- Chrome reached 60.14% of worldwide mobile share in 2019.
View the data
Recent Developments
- October 14, 2026: Google released a Chrome for Android update.
- September 2026: Chrome held 47.44% of US mobile browser share against Safari’s 46.38%.
- September 2026: Samsung Internet rose to 3.49% of worldwide mobile browser share, from 2.53% in August 2026, in Statcounter’s monthly data export, while Statcounter’s summary page shows 3.5% for the month.
- Q2 2026: Opera reported 288 million average monthly active users across all products and services for Q2 2026.
- Q2 2026: Opera GX averaged 37 million monthly active users across PC and mobile, up 10% year over year.
Mobile vs Desktop Web Traffic Share by Year
- Mobile held 58.99% of desktop, mobile, and tablet market share worldwide in September 2026, desktop 39.26% and tablet 1.76%.
- Mobile’s yearly share rose from 43.59% in 2016 to 51.56% in 2017, above desktop’s 43.75% that year.
- Mobile reached 60.95% in 2024, then eased to 58.5% in 2025.
- Desktop’s yearly share fell from 51.37% in 2016 to 39.92% in 2025.
View the data
Worth noting: DataReportal puts mobile phones at 51.6% of the world’s web traffic and finds that 96.2% of internet users go online by mobile phone at least some of the time. Mobile leads on every one of these measures except Cloudflare’s request count, so the size of the lead depends on what each source counts.
Is mobile traffic higher than desktop traffic?
Yes, on Statcounter’s measure: mobile held 58.99% of desktop, mobile, and tablet market share worldwide in September 2026, against 39.26% for desktop. Cloudflare counts differently and found that 43% of requests came from mobile devices in 2025, up from 41% in 2024.
Mobile Share of Web Traffic by Region
- India had a mobile share of 77.3% in September 2026, against 22.1% for desktop.
- Africa reached 68.69% mobile and Asia 66.97%.
- The US split almost evenly, with mobile at 49.1% and desktop at 48.47%.
- In Oceania, desktop led at 49.14% against 47.94% for mobile.
- Cloudflare found that more than half of request traffic came from mobile devices in 117 countries and regions in 2025.
View the data
Chrome vs Safari on US Phones
- Chrome held 47.44% of US mobile browser share in September 2026 and Safari 46.38%.
- Chrome’s lead over Safari on US mobile was 1.06 percentage points that month.
- Samsung Internet held 3.28% and Firefox 1.29% of US mobile browser share.
- Safari’s monthly share reached 54.75% in March 2026, when Chrome stood at 37.64%.
- Brave fell from 1.67% of US mobile browser share in September 2025 to 0.44% in August 2026.
| Month | Safari (%) | Chrome (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 49.72 | 41.9 |
| Oct 2025 | 49.41 | 42.24 |
| Nov 2025 | 50.64 | 40.97 |
| Dec 2025 | 51.1 | 41.71 |
| Jan 2026 | 51.12 | 41.59 |
| Feb 2026 | 52.92 | 39.45 |
| Mar 2026 | 54.75 | 37.64 |
| Apr 2026 | 54.69 | 38.18 |
| May 2026 | 52.83 | 38.71 |
| Jun 2026 | 50.1 | 42.26 |
| Jul 2026 | 52.11 | 41.77 |
| Aug 2026 | 52.87 | 41.16 |
Source: Statcounter US monthly export, September 2025 to August 2026
US Mobile Browser Share by Year
- Safari held 51.26% of US mobile browser share in 2016, against 36.56% for Chrome.
- Safari reached 55.88% in 2020.
- The gap narrowed in 2024, when Safari held 48.93% and Chrome 45.04%.
- In 2025, Safari held 50.22%, Chrome 42.3%, and Brave 1.13%.
View the data
Browser Preferences by Continent
- Chrome held 83.62% of mobile browser share in South America in September 2026.
- Safari led Oceania with 48.11%, ahead of Chrome at 43.79%.
- North America was close to even, with Chrome at 48.15% and Safari at 45.91%.
- Opera held 6.22% of mobile browser share in Africa, ahead of Samsung Internet at 5.01%.
View the data
Key finding: Statcounter’s September 2026 data puts Chrome at 62.79% and Safari at 28.01% of mobile browser share in Europe. Samsung Internet held 5.45% there. Safari’s share tracks the iPhone’s footprint in each market, which is why it nearly matches Chrome in North America and trails far behind in South America.
Mobile Browser Usage Statistics by Country
- Chrome held 90.62% of mobile browser share in India in September 2026.
- Japan was nearly even, with Chrome at 49.1% and Safari at 46.82%.
- In China, UC Browser held 10.89% and QQ Browser 6.89% of mobile browser share.
- Samsung Internet reached 6.71% in Germany and 6.27% in the United Kingdom.
| Country | Chrome (%) | Safari (%) | Samsung Internet (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | 90.62 | 3.61 | 0.79 |
| Brazil | 79.76 | 15.63 | 3.22 |
| Indonesia | 75.95 | 17.79 | 3.33 |
| Germany | 67.61 | 20.97 | 6.71 |
| United Kingdom | 50.72 | 41.07 | 6.27 |
| China | 49.47 | 25.5 | 0.58 |
| Japan | 49.1 | 46.82 | 1.01 |
| United States | 47.44 | 46.38 | 3.28 |
Source: Statcounter country pages, September 2026
Samsung Internet, Opera and UC Browser Mobile Share
- UC Browser fell from 17.56% of worldwide mobile browser share in 2016 to 1.23% in 2025.
- Opera dropped from 10.15% to 1.6% over the same period.
- Samsung Internet reached 6.86% in 2019 and held 3.49% in 2025.
- Opera reported 288 million average monthly active users across all products in Q2 2026, with Opera GX at 37 million across PC and mobile.
- Samsung Internet held 6.71% of mobile browser share in Germany, against 3.5% worldwide.
View the data
By the numbers: Statcounter’s yearly data shows UC Browser at 17.56% and Opera at 10.15% of worldwide mobile browsing in 2016, against 1.23% and 1.6% in 2025. Chrome gained 30 percentage points over the same period, which leaves today’s mobile market split between Google’s and Apple’s browsers.
Mobile Browser Version Statistics
- Chrome for Android held 61.83% of mobile browser version share worldwide in September 2026.
- Safari iPhone followed at 24.7% and Chrome for iPhone at 5.61%.
- Samsung Internet 30.0 held 2.87% of mobile browser version share.
View the data
Mobile vs Desktop Browser Market Share
- Chrome held 67.64% on mobile and 65.09% on desktop in September 2026. On desktop, Edge followed at 14.64% and Safari at 8.06%.
- Safari’s mobile share of 24.71% was 3.07 times its desktop share.
- Firefox held 6.11% on desktop, against 0.69% on mobile.
- Across all platforms, Chrome held 66.36% and Safari 18.27% of browser market share worldwide.
View the data
Android vs iOS Mobile Traffic Share
- iOS held 26.94% of mobile operating system share worldwide in 2025, against 72.77% for Android.
- The iOS yearly share reached 29.06% in 2023 in Statcounter’s series.
- Cloudflare found that iOS devices generated 35% of mobile device traffic in 2025, up two percentage points year over year.
- Monaco had the highest iOS share on Cloudflare, at 70%, and iOS drove 50% or more of mobile device traffic in 30 countries and regions.
View the data
Browser Share on iOS and Android
- On iOS, Safari carried 79% of requests to Cloudflare in 2025, four times Chrome’s 19%.
- Across all devices, Safari held 15.4% of request traffic to Cloudflare in 2025, followed by Edge at 7.4% and Firefox at 3.7%.
| Operating system | Browser | Share of requests, 2025 (%) |
|---|---|---|
| iOS | Safari | 79 |
| iOS | Chrome | 19 |
| Android | Chrome | 85 |
| Android | Samsung Internet | 6.6 |
| Android | Huawei Browser | 1 |
Source: Cloudflare Radar 2025 Year in Review
Why it matters: Cloudflare’s 2025 data shows Safari at 79% on iOS and Chrome at 85% on Android phones. Each platform’s default browser keeps most of its users, so a shift in worldwide mobile browser share largely follows the mix of iPhones and Android phones in use, alongside smaller losses by browsers such as UC Browser and Opera.
Global Mobile Internet Adoption
- DataReportal counted 6.12 billion internet users at the start of April 2026, or 73.8% of the world’s population.
- Unique mobile users reached 5.83 billion in April 2026, with 7.64 billion smartphones in use.
- An estimated 6 billion people were using the internet in 2025, according to the ITU, while 2.2 billion remained offline.
- 5G subscriptions make up about one-third, or around 3 billion, of all mobile broadband subscriptions worldwide, according to the ITU.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Internet users, April 2026 | 6.12 billion | DataReportal |
| Internet users going online by mobile phone | 96.2% | DataReportal |
| Mobile phones’ share of web traffic | 51.6% | DataReportal |
| Unique mobile users, April 2026 | 5.83 billion | DataReportal |
| Smartphones in use | 7.64 billion | DataReportal |
| People online, 2025 | 6 billion | ITU |
| People offline, 2025 | 2.2 billion | ITU |
Source: DataReportal, International Telecommunication Union
Why do mobile traffic share estimates differ?
Estimates differ because each source measures something different. Statcounter tracks market share by platform, DataReportal tracks web traffic, and Cloudflare tracks requests to its network. Statcounter reports mobile at 58.99% of desktop, mobile and tablet market share worldwide in September 2026, while DataReportal puts mobile phones at 51.6% of the world’s web traffic in its April 2026 data.
Cloudflare found that 43% of requests came from mobile devices in 2025. None of the three is wrong, and comparing a figure with its own history in the same source gives a cleaner read of the trend than mixing sources.
Conclusion
Chrome’s 67.64% of worldwide mobile browser share in September 2026 caps a climb from 38.38% in 2016, and mobile held 58.99% of desktop, mobile and tablet market share that month. The market has narrowed to two browsers, and of the markets covered here, the US is where the balance between them is now closest.
Chrome’s 47.44% to Safari’s 46.38% on US mobile in September 2026 is one month of data, so the next few monthly releases will show whether the crossover holds.
