The Opera browser has been developed by Norwegian software developer Opera Software since 1995. The browser has played a major role in early mobile devices but today it is a rare sight for both desktop and mobile devices. Opera used to have it's own rendering engine, Presto, but with version 15 they switched to Blink.

The Desktop Browser

Versions 1 to 12

As one of the first browsers to implement CSS, Opera has always been a pioneer, but not without quirks. Thus being a minor player its choices of support didn't always match that of the big players. The early version support a good base set of standards with very few issues. Opera has not released version 13 and 14.

These versions were released from 1995 to 2013.

Categorized as: desktop_light

Version 15+

With version 15 Opera switched to the Blink rendering engine used in Google Chrome and supports all the same CSS and JavaScript features. Only the browser UI is different. The browser no longer identifies as Opera but appends the OPR/#version# to the useragent instead. New versions follow the Chrome development without exceptions.

These versions were released from 2013

The Opera based on Blink is indexed as Chrome.

The Mobile Browser

The Opera mobile browser has been release with various names. Opera Mini, Opera Mobi, Opera Mobile or Opera ADR The all use the Presto engine from the Desktop browser and they are grouped below using the desktop version numbers to create a simple overview.

Versions 6 to 8

Also release as Opera mini 1-3. It is a very simple mobile browser typically a user-installed browser, because it was much better than the mobile browsers shipped with devices in those days.

These versions were released from 2003 to 2006.

Categorized as: mobile_light

Versions 9 to 12

Also released as Opera mini 4-8. Now supporting a much broader range of CSS and JavaScript. On iOS this version is known as Opera Mini 10.

Typically this browser is user-installed because the browser shipped with the device is too weak or the screen is too small.

These versions were released from 2006 to 2013.

Categorized as: mobile

Versions 15+

As of version 15 the mobile browser also switched to the Blink engine and supports all the same features.

The newest versions has a sufficient support to be categorized as a smartphone, when run on Android and iOS devices - but on other platforms decent touch capabilities are generally missing or the screen is too small to match the requirement for the smartphone segment.

Typically this browser is user-installed because the browser shipped with the device is too weak.

These versions were released from 2013.

Categorized as: mobile

Versions 15+, iOS and Android

On iOS the browser is no longer identified as Opera, but as WebKit with the OPiOS marker. On Android the browser is no longer identified as Opera, but as Chrome with the OPR/#version# marker. In both cases it uses the native rendering engine of the OS.

These versions were released from 2013.

Opera for iOS and Android is indexed as Safari and Chrome respectively.

The Tablet Browser

Versions 11 to 12

The first versions of the Opera tablet browser came in 2011 based on the Opera Mini UI. On iOS this is known as Opera Mini 7 and 8. On Android the browser uses the Opera Tablet marker.

These versions were released from 2011 to 2012.

Categorized as: tablet_light

Versions 15+, iOS and Android

On iOS the browser is no longer identified as Opera, but as WebKit with the OPiOS marker. On Android the browser is no longer identified as Opera, but as Blink with the OPR/#version# marker.

In both cases it uses the native rendering engine of the OS.

Opera for iOS and Android is indexed as Safari and Chrome respectively.