• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, Yesterday

While mobile accounts for more than half of global web traffic, AI search engines are making the biggest impact on desktops. A reversal of user behavior patterns could change that. 

Next week, Apple hosts its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2025, which showcases the company’s software. Industry watchers are keeping an eye on changes to its AI Intelligence and search products. 

The market implications are vast. For publishers it means that while AI search referrals are growing, mobile — the dominant traffic source — remains untapped.

For advertisers, it means gaining a better understanding of how desktop and mobile referrals are split and what it means for their media-buying strategies.

Mobile product share belongs to Apple, but Google dominates mobile web search.

Data shows AI is more dominant on desktop, but BrightEdge, an enterprise-level SEO company that supports in-depth research on shifts, suggests an AI shift in search from desktop to mobile led by consumers could disrupt the entire ecosystem.

Some 58% of Google's mobile traffic to brand websites comes from iPhones, and Apple has not yet embedded AI-powered search into its mobile web stack. But here is something to consider. Safari remains the default browser for nearly a billion users, according to BrightEdge data released Friday.

Mobile accounts for more than half of global web traffic, the data shows that desktops make the most impact in AI search when it comes to referring traffic to web sites.

Referral traffic for Google Search is 44% on desktop vs. 53% on mobile, while Bing’s referral traffic is 95% desktop vs. 4% on mobile.

ChatGPT’s referral traffic is 94% on desktop vs. 6% on mobile. Perplexity’s referral traffic is 96.5% on desktop vs. 3.4% on mobile.

Google Gemini’s referral traffic is 91% on desktop vs. 5% on mobile.

Despite its widespread mobile app use, ChatGPT sends nearly all its referral traffic via desktop. Desktop shares contribute 94% to referral traffic, whereas mobile contributes 6%, and tablets 1%.

Even more desktop-based than ChatGPT, Perplexity sees 96.5% of referrals from desktop, and 3% from mobile.

As the default for some Microsoft platforms and now integrated into Copilot, Bing is another major player in the AI space — 94.4% on desktop, but only 4.5% on mobile.

While Google holds the advantage in mobile AI web referrals, Apple’s role as the gatekeeper of the mobile browser experience is pivotal.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said it takes AI search and a browser to see success in this space.

BrightEdge data shows that 58% of Google’s mobile search traffic to U.S. and European brand websites originates from iPhones. Safari remains the default browser for nearly a billion users.

Apple has yet to embed AI-powered search into its mobile web stack, but with the upcoming Apple Intelligence announcements expected next week that could see deeper AI integration in iOS, the BrightEdge data suggests one change in Safari's default search provider could reshape mobile web search overnight.