Browser Wars 2.0: From Rendering Engines to AI Co-Pilots
Are the Browser Wars Back?
Atlas, Comet, PWAs and the Quiet Return of the Web
For a while it felt like the browser wars were over.
Chrome won, Safari held its ground on Apple devices, Firefox lived on with developers and privacy nerds, and the rest became footnotes. The real action shifted to mobile apps and app stores.
And then OpenAI launched ChatGPT Atlas, a full browser with ChatGPT baked into the core, and Perplexity launched Comet, an AI-first browser that can actually do things for you across the web.
Suddenly, the browser is interesting again.
At the same time, the web itself has been quietly levelling up: PWAs are better, browser APIs are deeper, and companies like OnlyFans are proving you can build a massive, insanely efficient business without native apps at all.
So… are the browser wars back? Let’s break it down.
1. Browser Wars 2.0: From Rendering Engines to AI Co-Pilots
The original browser wars were about engines and standards: Netscape vs Internet Explorer, later Chrome vs Firefox vs Safari. Who loads pages faster? Who supports the latest CSS? Who wins market share?
The new wave is very different. It’s about:
Who owns your default AI assistant
Who understands your context across tabs and apps
Who can act on the web on your behalf
ChatGPT Atlas: A browser built around an assistant
OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas is a full Mac browser with ChatGPT built in. You can open a sidebar on any page to summarize content, compare products, or analyze whatever you’re viewing in real time.
Under the hood, Atlas is built on Chromium but OpenAI re-architected how it plugs into the runtime to make it:
Start instantly
Stay responsive even with lots of tabs
Support future agentic use cases (AI doing multi-step tasks for you)
Atlas isn’t “Chrome with a plugin.” It’s a signal that the browser itself is becoming an AI shell for how you use the internet.
Perplexity Comet: The AI browser that actually does stuff
Perplexity’s Comet is positioned as a personal AI assistant that lives in your browser and across your device. It can: (Perplexity AI)
Browse and research across multiple tabs
Fill forms, extract data, and automate multi-step workflows
Act as a unified layer for search, shopping, scheduling, and more
It’s powerful enough that Amazon is now suing Perplexity over Comet’s “agentic” shopping features, arguing that Comet’s automated interactions on Amazon’s site violate terms and degrade their shopping experience.
That lawsuit isn’t just legal drama — it’s proof that the battleground has moved to AI agents inside browsers, negotiating with big platforms on behalf of users.
Browser wars 2.0 aren’t just “which tab bar is nicer?”
They’re “which AI lives in your browser and how much power do you give it?”
2. Meanwhile, the Web Got Seriously Good
While everyone was busy chasing native apps and app store rankings, the web… quietly became great.
PWAs: From “cute experiment” to real app strategy
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) now have solid support across all major browsers, including Safari, which used to lag behind.
Modern PWAs can:
Be installed on desktop and mobile
Run fullscreen with their own icon, like a native app
Work offline with advanced caching
Send push notifications in many environments
Tap into native features like biometric auth, limited Bluetooth, file system access, etc., depending on platform
On top of that, 2025-era browser APIs are wild:
View Transitions API for seamless in-app navigation
Idle detection, clipboard, file system, scheduling, and more
Better performance profiling and responsiveness tools
As a web developer, you now have a toolkit that would’ve felt like science fiction ten years ago.
3. OnlyFans: A Web-Only Monster That Prints Money
If you want a case study for “the web is enough,” look at OnlyFans.
According to Barchart data, OnlyFans generates about $37.6 million in revenue per employee, with a staff of just 42 people — vastly higher than Nvidia (~$3.6M) or Apple (~$2.4M) per employee.
And crucial detail for our topic:
OnlyFans has no traditional native app in the Apple App Store or Google Play because of adult content rules and fees. It lives on the web.
Multiple sources confirm:
OnlyFans operates as a web-only platform; there’s no official full-featured iOS/Android app.
Apple and Google’s content policies make explicit adult platforms effectively impossible in their main app stores.
Instead, OnlyFans pushes a mobile-friendly website and encourages users to “Add to Home Screen”, turning the site into a de facto PWA-style app icon on your phone.
There is a separate OFTV app (safe-for-work video content), but the core business lives entirely in the browser.
So you have:
Insane revenue efficiency
No native app
A business that relies on the mobile web + PWA-style shortcuts
That’s not a side-quest. It’s a signal of where money can be made outside the app store ecosystems.
4. Mobile Browsers Still Feel… “Browser-y”
Here’s the big UX problem you pointed out:
On mobile, browsers still feel “spooky” — every website lives inside the same chrome, with a URL bar and controls that scream “you’re in a browser,” not “you’re in an app.”
That matters because users trust and engage differently when something feels like “an app I installed” vs “a random tab in Safari”.
The good news: things are shifting.
Add to Home Screen and “standalone” mode
On both iOS and Android, when you install a PWA or add a site to the home screen:
It opens in standalone/fullscreen mode
The URL bar and much of the browser UI disappear
It feels much closer to a native app shell
With thoughtful design — app-like navigation, bottom nav bars, good icons, splash screens — your PWA can look and feel distinct, not “just another website”.
Is it perfect? No:
iOS has historically limited background tasks, notifications, and certain APIs for web apps, especially compared to native.
Some browser UIs still occasionally show their chrome or reload animations in weird ways.
Users don’t always understand that PWAs are “real apps” that can live on their home screen.
But we’re clearly moving in the right direction: more installable web apps, less intrusive browser chrome, and deeper device integration.
5. The Money & Politics: App Store Tax vs Open Web
Another reason browser-based experiences are back in the spotlight: developers are tired of paying platform tax.
15–30% is brutal at scale
Historically:
Apple charged a 30% commission on paid apps and in-app purchases, with a reduced 15% for small developers (under $1M/year) and for long-term subscriptions.
Google Play mirrored that with a 15% fee on the first $1M per year, and 30% above that, with 15% on subscriptions from day one.
For a subscription-heavy platform like OnlyFans, that’s a huge revenue haircut — on top of the content restrictions.
Regulators are cracking things open
The last few years have been full of antitrust and regulatory pressure:
Epic vs Apple led to rulings forcing Apple to allow external payment links and later finding that Apple violated those orders by trying to keep its 30% cut via indirect restrictions.
In the EU, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is forcing Apple to allow alternative app stores and engines, and to loosen some payment rules — though Apple is still being criticized for high fees and friction around alternatives.
Epic vs Google ended in a proposed global settlement that will reduce Play Store fees to ~20% or 9% depending on billing, and make alternative app stores easier to install through 2032.
Countries like Indonesia have fined Google over unfair business practices related to Play Store billing, highlighting how sensitive this topic has become worldwide.
The message: app stores are under pressure, and the open web + browsers look more attractive because:
No 30% tax by default
Fewer content restrictions (though still subject to law)
Global reach via URLs, not store approvals
Combine that financial logic with AI-native browsers like Atlas and Comet, and suddenly the browser feels like a strategic layer, not just a utility.
6. So… Are the Browser Wars Back?
Short answer: Yes — but it’s not 1999 all over again.
This time, the war isn’t about who renders <div>s faster.
It’s about:
AI Ownership
Atlas, Comet, and similar efforts from Chrome, Edge, and others are fighting to become your default thinking partner on the web.
Whoever wins that slot becomes the gateway to everything you do online.
Agentic Browsing
Comet is already automating shopping and other workflows, enough to trigger lawsuits from Amazon.
Atlas is explicitly architected for agentic use cases, where ChatGPT can take multi-step actions on your behalf in the browser.
Web Apps vs App Stores
Web-first platforms like OnlyFans show you can win big outside the stores.
PWAs + add-to-home-screen + AI browsers = a serious alternative to native apps, especially for content and SaaS businesses.
Mobile Experience
The last big frontier is making mobile web apps feel truly native — visually, performance-wise, and in system integration.
As PWAs get better and AI browsers make web workflows smoother, users will care less about whether something came from an app store or a URL.
So yes, the browser wars are back — but now the prize is who controls the AI-driven layer between humans and the web.
7. What This Means for Businesses & Developers
If you’re building or commissioning digital products in 2025+, here’s how to play this new era smartly:
Go Web-First Whenever You Can
Build a robust web app with PWA support before sinking big budgets into native. You’ll move faster, iterate easier, and stay flexible as AI browsers evolve.Invest in PWA Quality
Installable (icons, splash screens, manifest)
Offline-friendly where it makes sense
Push notifications where supported
Thoughtful mobile layout so it feels like a real app, not “a zoomed website.”
Design for AI-Assisted Browsing
Clean HTML structure and accessibility—AI agents rely on understandable markup.
Clear navigation and stable URLs so tools like Atlas/Comet can reliably act on your app.
Consider exposing an API and documentation so your product can become an action an AI agent can trigger.
Reduce App Store Dependency
Especially if you’re subscription-based or in a “sensitive” content space, use web + billing providers to keep control over revenue, and treat native apps (if any) as acquisition or convenience layers, not the core business.Watch the AI Browser Ecosystem
Atlas, Comet, and whatever Google, Apple, and Microsoft ship next will create new distribution and integration opportunities: “Available as a Comet workflow,” “Optimized for Atlas,” etc. We’re early, but that wave is coming.
Final thought
The web never really died. It just stopped being trendy while everyone chased app store rankings and DAUs.
With AI-native browsers like Atlas and Comet, PWAs reaching maturity, and web-first giants like OnlyFans quietly printing money, the browser is once again the most strategic piece of software on your device.
The browser wars are back — but this time, they’re fighting over your agent, your attention, and your business model, not just your homepage.