What if your phone came with a built-in AI assistant ready to answer your questions and manage your tasks—without you lifting a finger? That’s exactly what Perplexity hopes to achieve with its Comet browser, and it could reshape mobile browsing as we know it.
The startup Perplexity is in active talks with major phone makers to have its Comet AI browser preinstalled on new smartphones. CEO and Co-Founder Aravind Srinivas revealed the plan in an interview with Reuters last Friday, setting the stage for what could be one of the biggest shakeups in the mobile browsing market in years.
If successful, this strategy could vault Perplexity’s AI-powered browsing experience into the hands of millions of smartphone users worldwide—leveraging what tech insiders call “browser stickiness.” Simply put, users tend to stick with the default browser their device ships with. For Perplexity, that means instant reach and daily habitual use of its AI tools, without asking users to switch manually.
Key Takeaways:
• Perplexity wants its Comet AI browser preinstalled on smartphones
• Chrome currently holds 70% of the mobile browsing market
• Comet could automate tasks like scheduling and managing emails
• The move highlights a shift to agentic AI browsers
• Traditional SEO may get disrupted as AI-driven search takes over
But there’s a steep hill to climb. As Srinivas candidly put it, convincing mobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to swap Chrome—Google’s powerhouse browser commanding a 70% share of the mobile market—for a new player is anything but easy. Add to that Apple’s and Samsung’s built-in browsers, which together cover another 24%, and you see just how tight the competition is.
Right now, Comet is still in beta and only available on desktop. But it already does something different: it fuses Perplexity’s advanced AI with your web browsing, so you can ask questions about your personal data—like email or browsing history—and get help with tasks such as scheduling meetings. It’s not just about searching the web; it’s about your browser acting as a proactive, decision-making assistant.
Srinivas says Perplexity is targeting “tens to hundreds of millions” of users by 2026, once they iron out the kinks with an initial base of a few hundred thousand testers. It’s an ambitious goal, but it rides a fast-growing trend: browsers with agentic AI capabilities. In simple terms, these new browsers are built to make choices and complete tasks with minimal human input.
And Perplexity isn’t alone in this race. Industry whispers suggest OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is cooking up its own AI-first browser that could do everything from booking your vacation to paying your bills—entirely on autopilot.
The rise of AI-powered search doesn’t just matter for tech giants and everyday users. It’s rewriting the rules for marketers and businesses that rely on traditional SEO to reach customers. As Joy Youell of Winsome Marketing told PYMNTS earlier this month, small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) can no longer depend on simply ranking for search terms to get found online. Instead, they’ll need to ensure their info is structured, verified, and integrated into AI platforms—through plugins, APIs, or partnerships—so AI assistants like Comet can surface it when users ask.
For consumers, the payoff is convenience. For the SEO world, it’s an urgent signal to adapt or get left behind. If AI-driven browsers become the new norm, the days of typing keywords into a search box could be numbered.
And while tech insiders debate whether people will trust AI browsers to handle sensitive data like emails, meetings, or travel bookings, the industry is already moving in that direction. If Perplexity can win over the Samsungs and Motorolas of the world, its Comet browser could soon be one tap away—ready to answer, schedule, and manage your digital life the moment you power on your new phone.
One thing’s clear: the next big battle in AI won’t just be about smarter chatbots or more human-like assistants. It’ll be fought right inside the browser you use every day—and the companies that win the preinstall game may control the gateway to our digital worlds for years to come.