Google is blocked, but Chrome still leads the browser market in China

Google Chrome is currently the most commonly used browser in mainland China. On both desktop and smartphone, Chrome accounts for 36 to 39 percent of the browser market share this year, according to Baidu data.

It is known that there are months, Chrome outperformed its competitors, such as Internet Explorer from Microsoft or QQ Browser of Tencent, by up to 28% market share.

According to the latest data from CNCERT, China’s national computer emergency response agency, Chrome accounts for 30% of the market share of the country’s mobile browser in the third quarter of 2019.

In fact, Chrome is still very popular in the rest of the world. According to statistics tool StatCounter, this browser accounts for about two thirds of the global market share. But in mainland China, where most Google services are blocked, Chrome’s prominence comes as quite a surprise.

Anyway, Chrome doesn’t have to connect to Google’s servers to function. In China, Chrome can be downloaded directly at google.cn/chrome. This browser also facilitates users to switch the default search engine from Google to Baidu, Bing …

Yuwan Hu, an expert at market research firm Daxue Consulting commented: “In China, people often choose Google Chrome, because it is basically faster and more user-friendly.”

A user on Zhihu, China’s Q&A social network, commented: “Google Chrome is simpler. Chrome allows you to focus on web pages and forget about the browser itself.

Similarly, another user commented: “The reason I don’t like most Chinese browsers is that they are too profitable. Basically, they are not browsers but tools for companies to advertise and hunt for users.