Which Browser Should You Be Running On Your iPad And iPhone?

By Adam Overa
published

Welcome to our first ever mobile Web Browser Grand Prix! How do Web browsers on iOS, the world's number-one tablet platform, compare? Today, Yahoo! Axis, Google Chrome, Dolphin, Maxthon, Apple Safari, and Sleipnir vie for supremacy on the third-gen iPad.

Benchmark Results: HTML5 Performance

HTML5 Composite Score

The HTML5 composite score is the geometric mean of the results from GUIMark HTML5, Asteroids HTML5 Canvas 2D Rendering And JavaScript Benchmark, HTML5 Canvas Performance Test, Impact HTML5 Benchmark, and Mandelbrot Set in HTML5.

Once again, Safari has a strong lead over the third-party browsers, nearly doubling their results. Only Maxthon shows a slight lead over the remaining third-party browsers, but even it cannot touch Safari. The rest of the competition practically ties for third place, though Dolphin lags behind a bit.

Drill Down

The charts below contain the individual HTML5 performance benchmark results.

Notes: We had to drop GUIMark2's Vector Charting Test because, for some reason, those tests will not run on Chrome. We substituted the GUIMark3 Vector Test in its place. A single GUIMark HTML5 score, which is included in our HTML5 composite score, is derived from the geometric mean of the three GUIMark HTML5 tests. We test using the FHD image setting in the Mandelbrot Set in HTML5 benchmark.

GUIMark HTML5
Image 1 of 2
Canvas 3D
Image 1 of 2
Mandelbrot
Adam Overa
38 Comments Comment from the forums
  • esrever
    All of them are the same since apple doesn't give developers any freedom.
    Reply
  • ksampanna
    I mean, c'mon ... bt obviously
    Reply
  • LuckyDucky7
    Was this review even necessary?
    There is no choice of browsers on iOS. None. Every "browser" is just a sub-par Safari wrapper.

    It's not like people buy iOS devices for the ability to tailor the device to their liking, after all- it's not called the "reality distortion field" for nothing.
    Reply
  • victorious 3930k
    You may have forgotten the useful extra features category, where Chrome for iOS wins by MILES.
    Reply
  • murzar
    But Tom's Hardware, I hate Apple. What about Android?

    Such condescension! What about people who actually like Android more? Or find its features more beneficial?

    Not every Android user hates Apple.


    Reply
  • barathn
    I like the last paragraph
    Reply
  • gamecube
    I hope next week we see not only tablet review. I'm more interested in the phone part of Android.

    And Ubuntu just release 12.10. This is a good time to have another Ubuntu Web Browser Grand Prix.
    Reply
  • I'm curious what the benchmarks would be like if they installed the Nitrous Cydia tweak, which allows third party apps to use the Nitro engine. Any chance we can get a follow-up?
    Reply
  • no IE ?
    Reply
  • amdfangirl
    no IE ?

    On iOS?
    Reply