In the context: Remember when Microsoft’s Edge had a popularity problem? That started to change when it switched to a Chromium-based version, replacing Firefox as the second most popular desktop browser after Chrome last year. It is a pattern that continues.
NetMarketShare’s 2020 report showed that Edge’s 7.59% share of the desktop market surpassed Firefox in March last year. Now, a different analytics company – StatCounter (via Windows Latest) – reports that Edge has been adding users in the past few months, as the Firefox user base shrinks.
Although the data does not prove that Firefox users are going to Edge, we see that the Microsoft browser saw its market share jump from 7.81% to 8.03% this year, while the Mozilla product dropped from 8, 1% to 7.95%. This is a high point for Edge, according to StatCounter.
StatCounter Global Stats – Browser market share
Edge’s gain in users did not guarantee second place. That honor goes to Safari, which now has a 10.11% stake, although its numbers have been dropping since December, so Edge may soon overcome it.
Like Windows 7, it seems that some people are having trouble abandoning Internet Explorer, now discontinued. It has a 1.7% share that is decreasing very slowly.
The data is for the desktop market only. Looking at all platforms – desktop, tablet and mobile – iPhones and iPads make Safari’s second place safer with a 19.03% share, while Firefox is ahead of Edge, though by only 0.23%.
Last month, we heard that a bug in the ‘Startup boost’ feature, which increases Edge’s startup time, keeping key processes running in the background when the browser is not open, was preventing it from closing, hampering the performance of system.