Content blockers were a hot topic in 2015. Not only did Apple add support for them in iOS 9, but ASUS confirmed that it would be building AdBlock Plus into its default browser on Android devices. Now another major Android manufacturer is adding support for ad blocking into its default browser.
Samsung is adding support for ad blocking to its browser app on Android. The updated Samsung Internet browser should be rolling out to devices on Android Lollipop or higher today, bringing with it ad blocking support. The first blocker available for Samsung Internet is Adblock Fast, which claims to decrease load times on Android by an average of 51 percent. Adblock Fast is a free download from Google Play.
Samsung is a major player in mobile that sells millions and millions of Android phones every year, so the news that it’s adding support for ad blocking to its default browser is big news. Of course, just because Samsung is adding support for ad blockers to its browser doesn’t mean that every Samsung device owner will use one. Lots of folks use Google Chrome on mobile, and support for ad blocking in Samsung Internet may not be enough to get them to switch away from Chrome and its feature set, like tab syncing with desktop. Meanwhile, of the people that do use Samsung’s browser, it’s possible that not all of them will even know that they can install an ad blocker.
All of that said, it’ll be interesting to see which Android manufacturers follow ASUS and Samsung and implement ad blocking support into their default browsers. Is ad blocking a feature that’d get you to use your device maker’s browser app?