Microsoft Edge has snagged second place in the desktop browser race, nosing ahead of Apple’s Safari browser, says new data collected by web analytics service StatCounter.
According to the data collected by StatCounter, Microsoft Edge is now used on 10.07% of desktop computers worldwide, 0.46% ahead of Safari, which stands at 9.61%. Google Chrome remains in first place with a dominant 66.64% piece of the action, and Mozilla’s Firefox sits in fourth with 7.86%.
Edge has benefited from being the default Windows 11 browser, with its popularity creeping up in recent months. Back in January 2021, Safari held a 10.38% market share, indicating a gradual slippage in popularity over the last 14 months.
While first-place Chrome has seen its user numbers continue to increase over the same time period, Firefox has lost users since the beginning of the year, and it doesn’t appear to be a threat to Safari’s third-place spot.
The browser wars on mobile platforms is another story, as Microsoft no longer offers a mobile operating system with the shutdown of the Windows Mobile platform. Edge doesn’t even make an appearance in the list of the top six browsers on mobile. First-place Chrome has a 62.87% usage share, with Safari on iPhones and iPads enjoying a comfortable 25.35% in second place, 20.65% ahead of third-placed Samsung Internet, with 4.9%.
Over both desktop and mobile, Chrome has a 64.36% piece of the pie, Safari is comfortably in second with 19.13%, and Edge stands in third with 4.07% of the total market share. Rounding out the top six, Firefox, Samsung Internet, and Opera have 3.41%, 2.84%, and 2.07%, respectively, of the browser market.
Safari has suffered from various bugs, user experience issues, and website compatibility in recent years.
This led Apple’s Safari and WebKit team to reach out for feedback on Twitter as it faces heavy criticism of the browser’s bugs and missing support.
Apple Evangelist and developer advocate on the Web Developer Experience team for Safari and WebKit Jen Simmons tweeted that “Everyone in my mentions [is] saying Safari is the worst, it’s the new IE.” This led her to ask users for feedback, preferably highlighting specific bugs and instances of missing support that inhibit websites and apps.