Samsung brings its mobile Internet browser to Windows 11 – but it’ll struggle against Chrome
You may or may not have heard of Samsung’s proprietary browser, Samsung Internet, but it has quietly become a favorite of many people who use it on their Samsung smartphones. Now a desktop version of Samsung Internet for Windows PCs is debuting.
According to users on the Samsung subreddit, they like features such as the built-in adblocker, the deeper and darker dark mode, the smooth integration with Samsung Pass (especially if they choose to store most information in Samsung Pass instead of Google or Edge), an incognito mode that you can use bookmarks saving, extension support and more. SamMobile Calls Samsung Internet “one of the best browser apps available for Android devices,” and claims it’s more popular than Google Chrome in some regions (which is what the company would say, of course).
Samsung Pass is a password manager that stores sensitive information (such as login credentials, passwords, and payment details) for various apps and websites, making it easy (and secure) to log into accounts and purchase online.
Luckily for fans of Samsung Internet, Samsung has now released a desktop version for Windows, available from the Microsoft Store. So even those who are interested in trying Samsung Internet but don’t have a Samsung device can now give it a try as it works on any PC, laptop or tablet running Windows.
The synchronization options of Samsung Internet
This is also great news for existing Samsung Internet users, as it means they can sync browser data and saved information between phone, tablet and PC, which could encourage more users to make Samsung Internet their primary browser.
There is one important caveat to this sync feature, however, as the sync only extends to browsing history, bookmarks, saved pages, and open tabs. Password sync isn’t available yet, but this is a popular feature in other browsers, and Samsung seems keen to compete with big rivals like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, so I expect we’ll see this soon enough.
Once you run Samsung Internet in Windows and sign in with your Samsung account, you can import your data and information from your other Samsung devices, including from Chrome and Edge. You can do this with an HTML file if you have saved your data this way.
Another reason many users have given Samsung Internet a try is that it is built on Google’s Chromium browser framework (like Google’s own Chrome and Microsoft Edge) and is often compared to Chrome.
Google Chromium is Google’s open-source web browser project that is the basis for many of the best web browsers. In theory, this means that it should have the infrastructure to support extensions and add-ons that function in both browsers. So when you go to Add-ons in Samsung Internet, you will be redirected to the Chrome Web Store, but the actual buttons to add add-ons are currently grayed out. Maybe this is a mistake, but it could mean that Samsung is gearing up to support these add-ons in the future.
User concerns about the desktop version
A major complaint with Samsung Internet for Windows desktop is that performance isn’t great. It’s not the sharpest and quite laggy, as it’s not currently built to support a 60Hz (or higher) refresh rate. This is less than the highest refresh rates we’re used to on most modern computer monitors, and it’s in stark contrast to the browser’s version on Android.
As mentioned above, you can get Samsung Internet for Windows from the Microsoft Store, and while a Galaxy device isn’t necessary, make sure you’re running Windows 10 or Windows 11.
MSPowerUser speculates that Samsung will continue to add feature support and add new ones to the browser, making it an increasingly viable option for users eager to try a new browser.
It will be interesting to see if we see any major growth in Samsung Internet’s user base and what Samsung will do with those new users. Due to the huge market lead that Google Chrome enjoys, and the fact that Microsoft Edge comes pre-installed in Windows 10 and Windows 11, Samsung Internet has certainly done its best to make a difference in the web browser space.