Earlier this year, I was shocked to learn that development of Opera for iOS was effectively dead. No, this was not just a rumor -- an Opera employee told me publicly on Twitter. And so, we here at BetaNews reported the unfortunate news. Luckily, the report of the browser's demise was short-lived -- the company later told me the employee was misinformed. I was dubious, so I took a wait-and-see approach to see just how alive development truly was.

Well, today, Opera supplied proof that its popular Mini browser is alive and kicking -- a new version! Apparently the company was just waiting for the iPhone 8 before updating the web browser. In a blog post highlighting the upcoming release of a new iPhone, the company shares that the user interface has been refreshed. For instance, there is more use of the "Opera red" color and trending news stories have been bumped to the top of the start page. New features have been added too, such as an enhanced search bar that can scan QR codes.

"The AI-powered technology in the Opera Mini newsreader gives you a more personalized start page each time you use it. No setup or customization is required. The more you read, the more personalized your newsfeed will become. As of today, the Opera AI-powered newsreader is available in select countries such as Ghana, Kenya, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and the United States. It will be soon coming to Russia, Pakistan and Bangladesh," says The Opera Team.

The team further says, "You can also customize your news with international news sources. This feature is especially useful for checking out the news in other countries. To set it up, all you need to do is swipe to the left on the top of the start page and click the plus symbol in the top-right corner. You can then tailor both the location and news categories to your liking."

While Safari for iOS is a great browser, competition is always a good thing. With Opera for the desktop being so good, I look forward to trying this new version of Mini on both my iPhone and iPad. Not only does it seem to have some cool unique features, but it looks really attractive too.

Want to download Opera Mini for iOS? You can get it from the App Store here.