I think it's the autocomplete in particular that leaks a lot of private data. I've rarely had the combined bar do a search when I didn't want it to.
But I use firefox and I turned off autocomplete. And I use my own search instance (SearXNG)
But I use firefox and I turned off autocomplete. And I use my own search instance (SearXNG)
That’s the beauty. The whole unified input can be presented as a UX simplicity gain, while this quote points at the actual business value. ;)
If you want the content of your URL bar to stay local you should disable suggestions
If I'm accidentally pasting what I thought was a URL but actually is some other text in the paste buffer in the combined input box, that text is already sent to the search engine (provided suggestions are enabled, which they are by default).
If I do the same in the split URL/search box situation, and paste it in the URL box, it would at most look into the browser's history, keeping the input local.