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Google Play screenshot by Daniel Van Boom/CNET
It may be the world’s biggest smartphone maker, but not all of Samsung’s movements are highly publicised. In something of a mysterious move, the South Korean electronics behemoth recently released its mobile browser on Google Play without any official announcement.
The app, called Internet for Samsung Galaxy, has been available on Google Play since August 24, ZDNet Korea reports.
A source familiar with the company’s software plans told ZDNet Korea that registering the browser as an app on Google Play allows for its distribution and improvement through automatic updates, which may have been a driving force in its resurfacing on the Android app store.
Internet for Samsung Galaxy isn’t usable on models older than this year’s Galaxy S6. The browser is a pre-installed app on Galaxy devices, where it’s usually simply called “Internet”. It has some Galaxy-optimised features, such as being able to login to favourite sites using the S6’s fingerprint scanner and support for Samsung’s Knox security system.
The release comes five months after the Indonesian blog of open-source software Tizen, which has close ties to Samsung, claimed that the company was working on a unified browser that would be used across its smartphones, tablets and TV platforms — though this was never confirmed.
It isn’t yet known if Samsung, currently the smartphone industry leader with 21.4 percent global market share, will make the browser available for other Android devices or even its own older Galaxy models. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
