Google Chrome

Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was launched in September 2008 for Microsoft Windows and was built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions for Linux, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and Android were later released, becoming the default browser on Android devices. The browser is also the main component of ChromeOS, on which it serves as the platform for web applications.

Most of Chrome's source code comes from Google's free and open-source software project known as Chromium, but Chrome is licensed as a proprietary freeware. WebKit was the original rendering engine for chrome, but Google eventually forked it to create the Blink engine; every version of Chrome uses Blink as of 2017, except for the version on IOS.

As of March 2026, StatCounter estimates that Chrome has a 75.23% worldwide browser market share on personal computers. It is the most used browser on tablets having an estimated 48% market share. Chrome is also dominant on smartphones with around 67% market share. With a market share of 71.22% across all platforms combined as of December 2025, Chrome is the most used web browser in the world. Chrome has approximately 3.62 billion users as of March 2026.

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt was previously involved in the "browser wars" (a part of U.S. corporate history) and was against the expansion of the company into such a new area. However, Google co-founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, spearheaded a software demonstration that pushed Schmidt into making Chrome a core business priority, which resulted in it becoming a commercial success. Because of the proliferation of Chrome, Google has expanded the "Chrome" brand name to other products. This includes ChromeOS, Chromecast, Chromebook, Chromebit, Chromebox, and Chromebase.