In context: Remember when Microsoft’s Edge had a popularity issue? That changed when it switched to a Chromium-based version, which replaced Firefox as the second most popular desktop after Chrome last year. This is a pattern that continues.
NetMarketShare’s 2020 report showed that Edge’s market share of 7.59% on the desktop pushed it past Firefox in March last year. Now another analytics firm – StatCounter (via Windows Latest) – reports that Edge has added users over the past few months as Firefox’s user base shrinks.
Although the data does not prove that Firefox users are leaving for Edge, we see that Microsoft’s browser increased its market share this year from 7.81% to 8.03%, while Mozilla’s product increased from 8.1% to 7.95 % has dropped. According to StatCounter, this is a high point for Edge.
StatCounter Global Stats – Market share in browser
Edge’s profit in users did not secure it the second position. The credit goes to Safari, which now has a 10.11% share, though its numbers have been declining since December, so Edge could soon overtake it.
Like Windows 7, it seems that some people are struggling to get rid of the Internet Explorer which is now discontinued. It has a 1.7% share that is declining very slowly.
The data is for the desktop market only. If we look at all platforms – desktop, tablet and mobile – iPhones and iPads make Safari’s second place safer with a 19.03% share, while Firefox moves ahead of Edge, even if it’s only 0.23%.
Last month we heard that a bug in the Startup boost feature, which increases Edge’s launch time by running key processes in the background when the browser is not open, prevents it from shutting down system performance.