Samsung Galaxy phones tipped to bundle own-brand browser

Samsung is gunning for Safari and Chrome with its own web browser for the Samsung Galaxy line-up, reports say. The Electronic Times in Korea reports Samsung is developing its own WebKit browser for mobile devices.

Samsung has advertised for WebKit developers with knowledge of browsers to work at the Advanced Software Platform Lab at Samsung's US research and development centre in Silicon Valley.

WebKit is an open-source browser engine, which also powers Safari -- the default browser on Apple mobile devices -- and Chrome, Google's browser.

Here in Britain, the iPhone and BlackBerry browsers are the most popular mobile browsers, reflecting how popular BlackBerrys still are here, with Android's stock software coming in third. Third-party efforts such as Opera have a negligible share of the UK browser market, according to StatCounter -- although Opera is the most popular mobile browser worldwide, just edging Android.

With so many phone owners seemingly happy to use the default browser on their blower, Samsung may want to encourage Galaxy owners to use an own-brand browser. Because the Android experience is broadly the same across every phone, it's important for companies manufacturing Android phones to differentiate their kit -- an own-brand browser that's significantly better than the default option sounds like another good way to do that. 

Chrome launched for mobile devices back in February. You can now use Chrome on your Apple iPhone or iPad as well as on Android phones and tablets. If you use Chrome on your computer or laptop, your passwords, bookmarks and history are shared across computers and mobile devices.

What browser do you use on your phone, and why? What features would appear in your ideal browser? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.