Apple's Switch to Safari claims come from M5 MacBook Air lab tests
Apple's new page says Safari beats Chrome on Mac battery and speed, citing its own August tests on beta software.
Apple · Macfolio · 13 October 2026
Apple has launched a Switch to Safari page that pitches its browser as "a more powerful and private browser than Chrome." The page went up on October 12 alongside two short videos, according to 9to5Mac, and it leans on Mac numbers: up to 5 hours more video streaming than Chrome and up to 35% faster loading of frequently visited sites.
What Apple actually tested
The footnotes matter more than the headlines. Apple ran every test itself in August 2026, before macOS 27 and Safari 27 shipped in September.
- Hardware: production 15-inch MacBook Air with M5, 16GB of memory, 512GB SSD
- Software: prerelease macOS 27 and prerelease Safari 27.0
- Battery claim: 1080p video streaming over Wi-Fi, compared with Chrome 151
- Speed claim: snapshot copies of 12 popular websites under simulated network conditions
- Benchmarks: JetStream 3.0, MotionMark 1.3.2, and Speedometer 3.1
Apple also says Safari blocks third-party cookies by default while Chrome does not, and that Safari plays 4K HDR video from YouTube, Netflix, and Apple TV on a Mac, which requires a 4K or better monitor. Distraction Control, which hides page elements and remembers the choice, needs macOS 15 or later.
This does not mean you will see the same gains. These are vendor tests on one Mac model with beta software, and Apple says results vary with configuration and network.
Should you switch on a work Mac
If your day runs on web apps, test the battery claim against your own use, since video streaming is a narrow workload. Apple says Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides work in Safari, and that it can import Chrome bookmarks and passwords. On a managed Mac, check with IT first, because many companies standardize on one browser for extensions, sign-in, and policy. To change the default yourself, open System Settings, choose Desktop & Dock, and set Default web browser to Safari (macOS 13 or later).
Our take: the footnotes are unusually detailed and the numbers are plausible, but this is still marketing. A week of real work on battery tells you more than any chart, and Safari Profiles let you trial work browsing without abandoning Chrome.
Apple's chart compares out-of-the-box behavior, and Chrome can act differently with other settings, extensions, or company policy.