Interview: Firefox's chief on why he hopes a redesign will help win users from Chrome

Mozilla says the Firefox 157 redesign is meant to make the browser feel more modern and help it compete for users on product merits, not only on open-web values. Ajit Varma says the team is trying to move faster, support customization, and create more moments where people actively consider which browser they want to use.

Reading notes

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• The redesign is meant to broaden Firefox’s audience beyond privacy-focused users and open-web advocates.
• Varma says Firefox is trying to improve performance, compatibility, and design at the same time.
• Mozilla says faster development has been helped by AI tools.
• Firefox wants to feel modern, match operating-system design language, restore compact mode, and offer more customization.
• Varma says the browser is aimed at a wide group of people, not only users who already care about Gecko or Chromium.
• He says many users do not know the differences between Chromium, Blink, Chrome, Gecko, or Firefox.
• Firefox’s opportunity is to feel special and enjoyable compared with Chromium-based browsers that often look similar.
• Varma says a major barrier is that many people do not actively consider browser choice.
• In Europe, mobile choice screens under the Digital Markets Act have helped Firefox grow.
• Firefox gained users after Chromium browsers dropped Manifest V2 support, while Firefox kept supporting it.
• Mozilla’s AI approach is based on choice, with top-level controls to turn AI off or limit it.
• Varma says Firefox is seeing interest in enterprise and school tools, including manageability and digital loss prevention.
• He says digital sovereignty is another reason some organizations want Firefox.
• Firefox is investing in enterprise tools more heavily than it has publicly emphasized.
• Mozilla says AI use is still a minority of overall browser use.
• The team is focusing on on-device models, open source models, and practical features such as translation and summarization.
• Varma says AI work is less than 10 percent of engineering, while Gecko remains the biggest investment.
• Mozilla says it should have invested in mobile apps earlier.
• For Gecko on iPhone, the biggest obstacle is the cost of maintaining separate iOS builds for different markets.
• Firefox remains dependent on Google search revenue, but Varma says competition and more browser use would strengthen Mozilla’s position.