New figures show Edge can’t keep up with Google Chrome

May 2, 2017 07:05 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft keeps improving Edge browser with new features and the recently-released Windows 10 Creators Update brings lots of them, including options to set tabs aside, tab previews, and more control options for Flash controls.

But the arrival of the Creators Update has generated little to no interest for Edge browser, according to new data provided by market research firm NetMarketShare, with the new Windows 10 default improving its share by only 0.01 percent last month - note that the Creators Update was launched on April 5 as a manual download and on April 11 via Windows Update.

Microsoft Edge was being used by only 5.61 percent of PC users in March, while one month later, the share increased to 5.62 percent, despite the arrival of the Windows 10 Creators Update and all the included improvements.

On the other hand, Google Chrome, which is clearly the number one browser at the moment in the PC world, improved from 58.64 percent to 59 percent, so nearly 6 in 10 PCs are currently running Google’s browser. This means that most users who aren’t pleased with Edge are switching to Google Chrome, while some are also going for Mozilla’s Firefox (currently at 11.80 percent share).

More frequent updates

One reason for Microsoft Edge trailing behind its rivals is the limited availability because while Google Chrome is available on all Windows and non-Windows desktop operating systems, Edge can only be used on devices running Windows 10.

Furthermore, Microsoft releases new features at a rather slow pace, usually when new OS versions also get the green light, as it was the case of the Creators Update.

Microsoft wants to address this problem with the Redstone 3 update landing in September, as the company wants to start pushing updates for the browser through the Windows Store, which means it can be updated just like any other universal app on Windows 10.

There’s still no word on the possibility of getting Edge on a non-Windows 10 system, as Microsoft still wants to use the browser as one of the reasons to convince users to update to this OS version.