Apple is urging anyone and everyone with a Mac, iPhone, or iPad to abandon Google's Chrome browser and come to the promised land that is the company's own Safari web browser. As part of a new 'Stay on Safari' campaign, Apple highlights several reasons why Safari is supposedly superior to the most popular browser on the planet, one of which is a bold battery life claim. It also released a pair of cringy videos (embedded below) and called out Chrome over privacy. This isn't Apple's first attempt to sell users on Safari through privacy-focused advertising, either.
According to Apple, Safari "sips" on battery life while Chrome "slurps," which translates into up to 5 hours more video streaming on a Mac. Depending on how closely you want to read between the lines, Apple could also be saying that Chrome sucks even if having billions of users suggests otherwise.
Beyond increased battery stamina, Apple claims Safari delivers up to 35% faster page loading on frequently visited websites compared to Chrome on macOS. The fine print discloses that the claim is based on measuring page load times of snapshot versions of 12 popular websites under simulated network conditions, which Apple tested on 15-inch MacBook Air laptops with M5 silicon and 16GB of unified memory.
"Safari outperforms Chrome in speed, battery life, and privacy. Safari on Mac is up to 35% faster at loading frequently visited websites, while offering up to 5 hours more video streaming on a single charge. It also comes with built-in privacy protections that Chrome doesn’t match by default," Apple states in an FAQ asking straight up if Safari is better than Chrome.
Whether the claims live up to real-world testing conditions is a discussion for another day. That said, the efficiency gap stems largely from Apple's deep architectural control, with Apple's developers optimizing Safari's WebKit engine for its own silicon. Chromium's multi-process architecture has often drawn criticism for being a RAM hog at times.
On the privacy front, Apple claims Safari is more private than Chrome due to things like automatic blocking of third-party cookies and Apple's Intelligent Tracking Prevention tech.
Google has also faced its own privacy backlash over Chrome's AI integration, including criticism of the browser's automatic download of a 4GB Gemini Nano model.
Despite Apple’s aggressive push, convincing hardcore Chrome users to make the leap remains an uphill battle. According to StatCounter, Chrome's share of the browser market sits at 66.36%, putting it well ahead of Safari at 18.27%.
To Apple's credit, Safari does offer seamless integration across the company's ecosystem, as well as some nifty features like the built-in Reader Mode, Profiles, and native Apple Pay support. Meanwhile, Chrome's massive ecosystem of developer extensions and cross-platform syncing with Windows and Android keep many users from switching, regardless of battery life claims and other benefits touted as part of the Stay on Safari campaign, let alone a couple of cringy videos.
Paul is a seasoned geek who cut this teeth on the Commodore 64. When he's not geeking out to tech, he's out riding his Harley and collecting stray cats.