Microsoft Edge Overtakes Safari as World's Second Most Popular Desktop Browser

According to data provided by web analytics service StatCounter, Microsoft Edge has overtaken Apple's Safari to become the world's second most popular desktop browser.

According to the data, Microsoft Edge is now used on 10.07 percent of desktop computers worldwide, which is 0.46 percent more thanSafari. In the race for the top spot, Google Chrome has a 66.64 percent share, followed by Mozilla's Firefox with 7.86 percent.

The popularity of Edge has crept up in recent months, with the first signs that it would surpass Safari to take second place coming in February, when it was used on 9.54 percent of desktops globally. Over the last 14 months, the market share of Safari has slipped from a high of 10.38 percent in January of 2016 to a low of 8.6 percent in January of this year.

Despite regular updates and improvements, Firefox has leaked users since the beginning of the year, even though it has increased its user base. If Apple introduces changes to the way it works in macOS 13 later this year, the hold on third place could be in serious danger.

Since the demise of Windows Mobile, Microsoft has not had a mobile operating system. In StatCounter's analysis, Edge doesn't even make it into the top six browsers on mobile, but first-place Chrome commands 62.87 of usage share, with second-place Safari taking a comfortable 25.35 percent in second place.

Chrome leads with 64.36 percent of the total market share, followed by Safari with 19.13 percent, and Edge with 4.07 percent. In that order of position, the top three are followed by Opera with 2.07 percent, Opera with 3.41 percent, and Samsung Internet with 2.84 percent.

In the last few years, Apple has asked for feedback on how it can improve, because of the bugs, user experience, and website compatibility that have caused some users to complain. The changes Apple made to its browser were met with mockery and were rolled back before the final version was released to the public in September.

With the likes of Brave, Vivaldi, and DuckDuckGo out of the picture, Apple is likely to focus on bug fixes and performance improvements in future versions of its native browser.