slightlyoff
Joined 16 years ago
Karma
159
Submissions
71
Member since
Jan 23
Recent submissions
Comment · 3 months ago
Comment · 3 months ago
Author here. I work for Microsoft and can assure you I am not invested in Google's ad market position (except, perhaps, in the negative sense).
Comment · 3 months ago
Article's author here. Arguments about "older browsers" are specious, particularly on iOS where Apple couples the browser engine to the OS, and forces all browsers to use Apple's binary.
If there is a legacy browser problem today, it is entirely within Cupertino's gift to address. Everyone else already moved to out-of-band, decoupled autoupdates. Even ChromeOS is dramatically more up-to-date fleet-wide.
Comment · 4 months ago
The data is from my blog series, the latest installment of which is here:
https://infrequently.org/2025/11/performance-inequality-gap-...
The top two lines are the fastest devices available in the iOS and Android ecosystems each year, and when using Samsung S-series devices, I have made sure to pick the faster of the Qualcomm vs. Samsung Semi parts (both are used historically, but Qualcomm is most prevalent in the US). As explained in the piece, the bottom two lines are taken from representative devices in the mid-range and low-end price categories. There's wild variation in those market segments due to short-run discounting, and the most meaningful uplift in CPU speeds has coincided with 5G radios (for obvious signal-processing reasons). Because the lowest-priced segment doesn't yet feature 5G, those processors have remained stubbornly slow, even if they get cheaper every year.
Comment · 4 months ago
This data is from a series I publish; the latest update is here and includes multi-core scores:
https://infrequently.org/2025/11/performance-inequality-gap-...
Mobile devices rarely last beyond the 5 year mark, although the age span has been increasing in the past several years and the resale market is booming thanks to inflation, geopolitical instability, and a global cost-of-living crisis.
Comment · 6 months ago
Hey Domenic,
Sucks to be corresponding via The Second Worst Website In The World (TM), but here we are. Hope all's well on your end.
A minor correction from Edge's perspective: we've participated in OT using Phi models, but have not shipped to Stable, and are unlikely to given the current shape of things. Developers have not given us feedback that they're relaxed about compatibility, but I would obviously welcome that sort of data in case anyone has it to hand.
Best,
Alex
Comment · 1 year ago
That's the inspiring thing about the EU and UK regulatory frameworks: the penalties can be more than a slap on the wrist. Apple is playing a dangerous game by continuing to flout EU law and pursue a maximalist, scorched-earth strategy. Reputation matters, and they are not making friends by re-upping false arguments at every turn.
Comment · 1 year ago
"TL;DR: The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has officially designated Apple as having Strategic Market Status (SMS). After four years investigating Apple’s restrictions on browser engines and web apps, the CMA now has statutory authority to enforce remedies proposed in its Market Investigation Reference completed this year.
The most important outcomes being:
- Apple can be compelled to allow third-party browsers on iOS to use their own engines.
- Apple can be compelled to provide equivalent access to functionality for browsers using their own browser engines.
- Apple can be compelled to let third-party browsers install and manage web apps using their own engines.
- Apple can be compelled to remove barriers to web app adoption, such as implementing a web app equivalent to smart banners or install prompts in iOS Safari."
Comment · 1 year ago
It's not insane that you have to explain it to me, because your premise is _wrong_. Go look at the founding documents for web SDOs. Voluntary adoption is foundational to the entire effort, and as I keep pointing out, Apple is the only party that has undermined it:
https://infrequently.org/2025/09/apples-crimes-against-the-i...
Comment · 1 year ago
Let's try this again: was Apple wrong to ship Storage Access ahead of everyone else?
https://caniuse.com/mdn-api_document_requeststorageaccess
In the world you want, how should leadership in designs manifest when there isn't consensus? Should nothing ship? And who does that help?
Comment · 1 year ago
Author here. You seem to have missed the bleedingly obvious point that responsibilities are a function of scale.
Nothing you allege was missed, and indeed it was considered at length in the longer series on these topics:
Comment · 1 year ago
That's not how any of this works;
https://infrequently.org/2025/09/standards-and-the-fall-of-i...
https://infrequently.org/2025/11/performance-inequality-gap-...
This makes intuitive sense because those users are more likely to be out of disk space or bandwidth limited by geography or metering.
Regardless, while this issue is pronounced in the Android and Windows ecosystems, it's in a dramatically better place than it was in, e.g., the late Naughts when we had to build exotic solutions like Chrome Frame to address stagnation and fragmentation. So I'm not ignoring the issue, but again, to the extent we're discussing platforms that Apple has influence over, the ball is squarely in Cupertino's court. Every iPhone running an unsupported OS could be getting an updated browser, but Apple chooses not to make one or allow anyone else to plug the gap.