About two decades ago, testing was only limited to the desktop. With the rapidly increasing use of smartphones and ease of access to the internet across the globe, testing has spread across vast platforms. The native and mobile web browser testing is being performed more and more compared to desktop testing.
The meteoric emergence of smartphones is nothing short of phenomenal, as a growing number of consumers are leveraging the potential offered by the smartphone ecosystem. As per April 2019 data of Statistica[1], the global mobile population accounted for 4 billion unique users. That’s not all, the global mobile traffic is expected to increase sevenfold between 2017 and 2022. The daily media consumption on mobile devices has grown by 504 percent since 2011[2].
In 2019, the worldwide sales of mobile devices were 1524 million units. In 2020, in the first nine months, we were already hitting 1590 million units and this trend has been growing every year. The number was just 296 million units ten years back in 2010 (https://www.statista.com/statistics/263437/global-smartphone-sales-to-end-users-since-2007/). This trend shows us how mobile devices have become a part and parcel of our lives.
It goes without saying that the usage of smartphones has been soaring all around the globe. In fact, a report by Statista suggests that the overall count of mobile phones all over the world is expected to be a whopping 3.8 billion by 2021 which is around half of the world’s population. Also, around 80% of the total time spent on mobile phones is dedicated to mobile apps.
Web Developers frequently come across issues where the developed website or web application does not work as expected on certain combinations of browsers and operating systems. Does this mean that enough effort was not spent in the automation testing process? The possibility is that the web developer and test automation engineer did not do thorough cross browser testing!
With the rise in the usage of internet and smartphones, the number of browsers too have increased over the last two decades. Currently, there are multiple browsers across the world and different users use different browsers. Also, every browser has different versions which are in use and you can’t simply assume that your website will look perfect on every browser. So, a website must be compatible across multiple browsers and their different versions in order to gain a significant user base.
Mobile phones have taken over the world in a way few technologies and inventions have been able to in the past. The far-reaching repercussions of such a widely accepted adoption can be felt in all fields of life, from education to tourism. As mobile phone usage and internet penetration continue to grow at unprecedented rates, competition amongst developers is also at all-time heights. Hence, quality control and assurance within the mobile application development sector has become vital.
How do you feel when an application on your device starts breaking but it works just fine on your friend’s smartphone? You reload the browser and wait for the website to load. When it does, it does not feel right. All the features are not visible or you cannot click them. Eventually, you will find yourself in the middle of two roads: 1. Consider that the site is facing an issue and maybe come back later. OR 2. Look for another site as this one is broken.
The software market is growing at a very fast pace today and so are the devices, browsers, and OS. It is vital for any business or software to provide a great user experience to a broader user base. An application should work on different devices like mobile, laptop, tablets, and smart televisions according to the purpose of the application. Also, all possible browsers and OS combinations possible.
