Google and Mozilla are working on versions of their browsers for iOS and iPadOS that would use their Blink and Gecko rendering engines instead of Safari’s WebKit, which is required by Apple’s app store rules.
The activity of both companies could indicate that they are waiting for a change in the app store restrictions, or simply that they are hedging their bets.
Regulatory pressure on Apple is pushing it to relax restrictions on its app store, including accepting third-party payment services and side-loading apps. iOS versions of Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and others currently have limitations in their capabilities and functionality, but with the opening of the platform to third-party browser engines, further development of browsers for iOS and iPadOS is expected.
what advantages would it have for Chrome?
If Google manages to implement its Blink rendering engine in a version of Chrome for iOS and iPadOS, this could have several benefits:
– Better performance: Blink is a very advanced and powerful rendering engine, so using it in an iOS and iPadOS version of Chrome could improve performance and browsing speed.
– User interface and synchronization: By using its own rendering engine, Chrome could have a more consistent user interface with its other versions, as well as better synchronization with its desktop versions.
– additional capabilities: Blink allows developers to implement additional features and functionality that might not be available with the WebKit rendering engine.
– Greater competitiveness: By being able to use its own rendering engine, Chrome could improve its competitiveness against other browsers for iOS and iPadOS that are limited by the use of WebKit.
What obstacles could Apple put?
Apple still owns the operating system, so it could limit the amount of caching, for example, or the amount of memory and CPU power used.
In this way, Chrome or Firefox could have limited the number of tabs open at the same time, or see their operation limited in the background.
Be that as it may, opening up to other engines encourages competition, and that’s good for everyone.
