14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft replaced Internet Explorer with Edge browser in Windows 10 in order to provide users with a more advanced alternative to Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, but statistics show that neither has been impacted by the debut of the new application.
What’s more, Google Chrome has continued increasing its share on the desktop and even passed the 50 percent milestone, so it’s now running on more than 1 in 2 PCs out there.
New data provided by Net Applications for the month of August shows that Google Chrome continues to be the leading browser for desktop users out there, and it now has a market share of 53.97 percent, while Internet Explorer, although dropping, is the runner-up with 27.38 percent. Firefox is third, but far behind with 7.69 percent, while Edge is next with 5.16 percent.
Without a doubt, Microsoft’s big dream is to make Edge a rival to Google Chrome, but it’s very clear that the new browser has a long way to go before actually being able to compete against Google’s.
Microsoft Edge at its maturity
With Edge currently at its maturity thanks to the Anniversary Update (as this release brought extensions and a plethora of new features to the browser), a look at the performance of the app last month shows that, although growing, Microsoft’s new browser can’t reach the pace that leader Google Chrome set a few months ago.
For example, Edge improved last month from 5.09 to 5.16 percent, so it scored an increase of 0.07 percent while Google Chrome skyrocketed from 50.95 to 53.97 percent, up 3.07 percent.
Of course, there are many reasons why Microsoft Edge still can’t grow as fast as Google Chrome, and the main one is the limited availability that’s impacting its adoption. Edge is currently available on Windows 10 only, and Microsoft has no plans to bring it on a different operating system, while Google Chrome runs on all Windows versions and non-Windows platforms.
In terms of functionality, however, Microsoft Edge is improving substantially these days, and the Anniversary Update certainly brought features that make it a much better rival to Chrome and Firefox. The extension support is clearly the key improvement, and there’s hope that the Redstone 2 update due in spring 2017 will bring even more new features, but Microsoft is remaining tight-lipped for the time being on everything related to future updates.