It was quick: Microsoft's Edge browser has replaced Mozilla Firefox from second place of the most used browsers worldwide a few weeks after its official release in a new Chromium-based version. The browser, which is now almost five years old, has never been so well placed.
Two Chromium browser bases now dominate the ranking – even if the distances between the individual competitors still offer room for change.
Google Chrome remains unchallenged
How do the market shares of the individual browsers look like? While Google Chrome is analyzing Netmarketshare according to (via ComputerBase) continues to be the undisputed leader among the browsers with a 68.5 percent market share, Microsoft and Mozilla are fighting head-to-head.
Edge and Chrome have grown every month since the beginning of 2020, while Firefox and Internet Explorer have constantly lost users. Microsoft's Edge then pushed in front of the Firefox browser for the first time in March, so that the current ranking looks like this (as of March 2020):
- Chrome: 68.5 percent
- Edge: 7.59 percent
- Firefox: 7.19 percent
- Internet Explorer: 5.87 percent
- Safari: 3.62 percent
Where does Edge's upswing come from?
Microsoft released the new Chromium-based Edge browser on January 15, 2020, and began delivering the browser automatically to all Windows 10 users via the automatic Windows update a short time later.
The old Edge browser was consistently behind Internet Explorer up to and including December 2019 and achieved an average market share of around five percent.
New fight for second place – or even first place?
The competition between Firefox and Edge, which took place before the release of Edge between Firefox and Internet Explorer, may now be repeated.
Firefox won this competition in December 2018: It was then that the Mozilla browser permanently outperformed the Microsoft competition since May 2016 and has since maintained its position as the second most used browser.
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Edge browser via Windows Update: Old variant is automatically replaced
In any case, Microsoft's strategy of automatically delivering the new Edge browser via the Windows update seems to be bearing fruit. The software should also benefit from the fact that it is based on Chromium and users can accordingly install Chrome extensions in Edge.
On the one hand, it remains to be seen whether the Edge Browser can hold its own against Firefox. On the other hand, it has to be shown how Microsoft's reinvention of Internet Explorer can hold its own against the top dog Google Chrome, which has been unchallenged for years. In any case, Google has tried several times in the past to lure Edge users over to Chrome.
