With the launch of Firefox Quantum, Mozilla released the most important update to its browser. Its lighter, faster and you should definitely give it a try. Other than the improved browser, you’ll also notice another change: Google is now the default search engine again.
Mozilla announced that they have terminated their search deal with Yahoo and the new version of their browser, named Firefox Quantum (Firefox 57) which is 2X faster and consumes 30% less space will feature Google as the default search engine.
“As part of our focus on user experience and performance in Firefox Quantum, Google will also become our new default search provider in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong and Taiwan,” Mozilla stated.
In 2014, Mozilla made a deal with Yahoo to make it the default search engine provider on their browser. Earlier, the deal was said to be of 5 years. But those five years aren’t up yet. Regarding this, Mozilla Chief Business and Legal Officer Denelle Dixon told Techcrunch:
“We exercised our contractual right to terminate our agreement with Yahoo! based on a number of factors including doing what’s best for our brand, our effort to provide quality web search, and the broader content experience for our users. We believe there are opportunities to work with Oath and Verizon outside of search. As part of our focus on user experience and performance in Firefox Quantum, Google will also become our new default search provider in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong and Taiwan. With over 60 search providers pre-installed as defaults or secondary options across more than 90 language versions, Firefox has more choice in search providers than any other browser.”
Here’s the screen shot of the search engine provider settings in new Mozilla browser:
