Microsoft Edge Looks Set to Overtake Safari as World's Second Most Popular Desktop Browser

Microsoft Edge is on the verge of overtaking Safari as the world's second most popular desktop browser, web analytics service StatCounter reports (via TechRadar).

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According to the data, Microsoft Edge is now used on 9.54 percent of desktops worldwide, a mere 0.3 percent behind Apple's Safari, which stands at 9.84 percent. Google Chrome continues to hold first place with an overwhelming 65.38 percent of the market. Mozilla Firefox takes fourth place with 9.18 percent.

In January 2021, Safari held a 10.38 percent market share and appears to be gradually losing users to rival browsers over time. If the trend continues, Apple is likely to slip to third or fourth place in the near future. Edge and Chrome are now both Chromium-based browsers, meaning that Chromium will likely come to dominate the top two desktop browsers.

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While Edge appears to be set to overtake Safari on a global scale, in North America, Safari is in a stronger position, being used on 16.87 percent of desktops compared to Edge's 11.93 percent market share. In Europe, Edge has already surpassed Safari, taking 10.9 percent of the market compared to Safari's 9.95 percent. The data is similar in Asia, where Safari's 5.41 percent market share trails behind Edge's 7.46 percent.

Matters are different on mobile platforms, where Safari has a more secure position in second place with a 26.71 percent market share. Despite Safari being the default browser on the iPhone and iPad, Chrome still dominates both iOS and Android with a market share of 62.06 percent. StatCounter suggests that Edge's mobile presence is comparatively diminutive even though it has been downloaded 10 million times on the Google Play Store.

Safari has been met with complaints from some users in recent years over the browser's bugs, user experience, and website compatibility. Apple's Safari team recently asked for feedback amid accusations that "Safari is the worst, it's the new IE."

The problems reached fever pitch last year when Apple unveiled a substantial redesign for Safari at WWDC, which was met with widespread criticism that accused the changes of being "counterintuitive." After months of tweaking the ambitious redesign in response to feedback, Apple eventually gave up on the changes just before the public release of iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey, reverting to the previous Safari design by default.

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Top Rated Comments

NewUsername Avatar
39 months ago
One of the great mysteries in life is why Firefox isn’t more popular.
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iDento Avatar
39 months ago
Both Edge and Safari are good web browsers, I guess people choose between them depending on the OS they are using.

What is still surprising is why is Chrome number one, it’s bloatware.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
skous Avatar
39 months ago
Not surprising...

It's the best browser for Macs right now, and probably one of the best for PCs, so it's logical to be in front, if it is gaining much audience from mac users.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SactoGuy18 Avatar
39 months ago
Well, ever since Edge switched to using the Google-sponsored Chromium base, it's a way better browser. And it works better than Chrome itself in some cases.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Madhatter32 Avatar
39 months ago
It's still Firefox for me.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dlewis23 Avatar
39 months ago
Sadly I think we are getting close to seeing the end of Firefox here and this will not be a good thing for the web.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)