Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox.[15] Versions were later released for Linux, macOS, iOS, and also for Android, where it is the default browser.[16] The browser is also the main component of ChromeOS, where it serves as the platform for web applications.
Most of Chrome’s source code comes from Google’s free and open-source software project Chromium, but Chrome is licensed as proprietary freeware.[14] WebKit was the original rendering engine, but Google eventually forked it to create the Blink engine;[17] all Chrome variants except iOS used Blink as of 2017.[18]
As of October 2022, StatCounter estimates that Chrome has a 67% worldwide browser market share (after peaking at 72.38% in November 2018) on personal computers (PC),[19] is most used on tablets (having surpassed Safari), and is also dominant on smartphones[20][21] and at 65% across all platforms combined, making it the most used web browser in the world today.[22] Because of this success, Google has expanded the “Chrome” brand name to other products: ChromeOS, Chromecast, Chromebook, Chromebit, Chromebox, and Chromebase.