Emerging AI-powered browsers make their way onto smartphones, noticeably lacking from the dominant market leaders
In the rapidly evolving world of web browsers, Perplexity is gearing up to launch its mobile version of the AI-first browser, Comet. This innovative browser aims to integrate deep AI capabilities directly into the browsing experience, setting itself apart from conventional browsers.
Perplexity plans to roll out Comet on smartphones, targeting a substantial user base of tens to hundreds of millions by 2026, following an initial desktop beta phase with a few hundred thousand testers.
The mobile Comet browser is built on the familiar Chromium engine, ensuring functionality similar to Chrome, yet with enhanced AI-first capabilities designed to boost user productivity and research efficiency.
Key features of the mobile Comet browser include a built-in AI assistant, conversational browsing, session memory and context persistence, and voice-based interactions. The AI assistant stays accessible across sessions and tabs, allowing users to pose follow-up questions, get summaries, compare information across sources, and automate tasks such as booking meetings or writing emails, all inline without switching apps or copying information.
Users can interact conversationally with the browser by asking contextual questions related to their reading or research material, enabling a seamless, interactive search and exploration experience within the browser. The AI assistant maintains the context across multiple tabs and browsing sessions, supporting complex, multi-step tasks and cumulative research without losing track of prior interactions.
Perplexity is in active negotiations with smartphone manufacturers, including Samsung and Lenovo-owned Motorola, to have Comet pre-installed on devices as the default mobile browser. This strategy aims to leverage "browser stickiness," where users tend to keep default apps, to accelerate adoption and compete against the dominant Chrome browser, which currently holds about 70% of the mobile browser market.
The AI abilities of Comet leverage Perplexity's LLM, which Perplexity claims to surpass Google's Gemini AI featured in Google's AI mode for Chrome. This AI-first approach targets a superior browsing experience that integrates research, interaction, and task completion natively in the browser.
Currently, Comet is available in beta for desktop via invite to Perplexity Max subscribers, with broader access planned over the summer and a mobile launch expected to expand reach significantly next year. Notably, Perplexity already has a similar deal with Motorola for pre-installation of the Perplexity mobile app on smartphones.
In the browser landscape, browsers with AI agents or AI-powered action skills are becoming the next big frontier. Opera browser experiments with AI agents, and OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is reportedly working on its web browser. Google has integrated AI mode within Search, and OpenAI has a deal with Apple that deeply integrates ChatGPT capabilities with Siri and across the Apple Intelligence stack.
As the mobile Comet browser prepares for launch, it promises to redefine the browsing experience by integrating advanced AI directly into browsing, supporting context-aware, conversational interactions, and practical task execution to enhance user productivity. Its potential widespread adoption hinges on securing pre-installation deals with major smartphone makers, challenging entrenched browser defaults on mobile devices.
Technology and artificial-intelligence will play a significant role in the launch of Perplexity's mobile version of the AI-first browser, Comet. The mobile Comet browser incorporates a built-in AI assistant, conversational browsing, session memory, context persistence, and voice-based interactions, all powered by Perplexity's LLM, which is claimed to surpass Google's Gemini AI.
