Google has launched a faster search feature in Africa. Now, if the search engine detects that an internet user is using a mobile device with low RAM, it will automatically optimise the search results for speed. A statement from the search company explained that “web pages that [users] access from Google's search results page will be optimised to load faster and use less data”. The initiative covers most of Africa and applies to the Google app, the Chrome browser and the Android browser. It is estimated that almost 40% of Android devices in Africa have low RAM, meaning that the introduction of automatically optimised webpages should benefit a large proportion of internet users in the continent. The feature has already been launched in India, Indonesia and Brazil, with results from these countries showing that the optimised webpages use 80% less data and load three times faster than unoptimised pages.Â
