Google Chrome remains China’s most popular web browser, even with Google search and other apps blocked
- Internet users in China cannot use the Google search engine without a VPN, yet Chrome has the highest market share among web browsers
- China has no shortage of domestic browsers to choose from, including UC Browser, 360 Browser and QQ Browser
Russel Zeng lives in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. But Google Chrome is his window to the world.
From his office in the city often called the Silicon Valley of China, the tech worker reads English news sites in Google’s web browser on his computer. With FireShot, one of the myriad free browser extensions available on Chrome, he takes screenshots of articles that he finds useful and shares them with his colleagues. To improve his English writing, he uses the Grammarly extension to check for spelling mistakes and get word suggestions.
“I don’t remember exactly why I switched to Chrome a few years ago,” he said. “I think I was having difficulties installing extensions on Safari and QQ Browser, and Chrome was the name that got mentioned the most by the friends I asked to recommend a new browser.”
Zeng is not alone.
Google Chrome is the most commonly used browser in mainland China, according to various data sources.
Across both desktops and smartphones, Chrome has 36 to 39 per cent of the browser market this year, Baidu analytics shows. In one month, it beat its closest rivals – Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Tencent Holdings’ QQ Browser – by more than 28 percentage points.
The most recent data from CNCERT, China’s national computer emergency response body, shows a similar story. The report shows Chrome with 30 per cent of China’s mobile browser market in the third quarter of 2019.