The news of Samsung’s ad blocker comes just months after Apple enabled support for controversial content blockers in its iOS 9 software, which runs on most iPhones and iPads. In iOS 9, users can download ad-blocking software so they can stop viewing ads in web pages while surfing on Apple’s Safari browser.
This move by Apple to add content blockers was seen as a fight back against Google, which makes most of its money from selling ads. However, many online say the only ones that Apple’s content blockers will hurt are small publishers themselves.
It is however a surprise that Samsung has enabled them given that Samsung is one of Google’s largest hardware partners and the company’s Android smartphones account for 22% of all smartphones sold in 2015. What’s even more surprising is that Samsung has added ad-blocking right into the default web browser itself so users do not need to download third-party content blockers to remove ads.
As the Guardian writes, until Apple introduced content blockers in iOS 9 the amount of people using ad blockers on mobile devices was relatively small. But since ad blocker became available on iPhones, ad blocking has become almost as popular on mobiles as on desktops. Now Samsung is including ad blocking into its default browser, it is possible mobiles could overtake desktops as far as ad blocking is concerned.
However, as many discuss, the ad blocker usage wouldn’t be as significant if advertisers weren't so aggressive with their advertising. It’s definitely something to keep an eye upon. For many, having an ad blocker on mobiles will enable much simpler browsing, however for many businesses advertising their services online, the idea of ad-blocking becoming more prevalent is a slight concern for all.
