Samsung is testing a new feature in its own mobile browser that allows Samsung phone users to shift the position of the address bar from the top of the screen to the bottom, 9to5Mac reports. For now, it’s only available via the Samsung Internet beta app.
It’s a sensible layout option to offer as smartphones have gotten bigger and bigger, making it more difficult to thumb your way to the top of the screen. By lowering the address bar, mobile users can easily tap the bar and type in a new website without having to reposition their hands. It’s akin to the way swipe-based navigation can work better on larger phones than navigating with the classic buttons at the bottom of the screen.
The option to have the address bar swap positions is one we’ve seen before. Chrome on Android briefly offered this feature some time ago; Google has since walked back the feature. The mobile version of Firefox currently allows swapping the address bar location in customization settings.
The move from Samsung, however, comes on the heels of Apple adding the same browser feature in iOS 15, leading some to call out Samsung out for “copying” Apple. The Korean smartphone maker did the same when it removed headphone jacks from its flagship phones and stopped shipping charging bricks with its phones, even after taunting Apple for doing the same thing. But this is still a simple change to a beta build of Samsung’s browser that may very well never roll out to the live version of the app.
