According to the latest SUMO research announcement in September, Mozilla is currently testing Microsoft’s Bing as the default search engine for Firefox. The announcement stated that since the 6th of this month, about 1% of the Firefox desktop user base has accepted this early test. Mozilla expects this testing phase will last about five months and will be completed by January next year.
Starting on September 6, 2021, 1% of desktop users will try to use Bing as the default search engine. This research will continue until early 2022 and may end at the end of January. For those who are unfamiliar, SUMO stands for SUpport.MOzilla.org, and these studies are “part of optimizing the Firefox experience” for all users. If you run “about:studies” in the address bar of your browser, you can see a list of completed studies.
Although we don’t know why Mozilla might want to replace Google with Bing as the default search engine for Firefox, German blogger Sören Hentzschel speculates that the Mozilla team may be experimenting with Microsoft’s Bing in the future, because the current search agreement between Mozilla and Google is expected to be next year. End, so Bing maybe Mozilla’s spare tire, in case the search contract with Google is not further extended.
