14 DAY TRIAL // In theory, the transition that Microsoft Edge made from EdgeHTML to Chromium turned the default Windows 10 browser, now available cross-platform, into a more powerful rival to Google Chrome and Firefox.
But in practice, Google Chrome is by far the world’s leading desktop browser, and what’s more, it was the only one that managed to improve its market share last month.
According to third-party market share data published by StatCounter for the month of April 2021, Google Chrome controlled 67.55 percent of the desktop browser market, up from 67.14 percent in March. It’s a small increase, but on the other hand, Chrome is the only big browser that didn’t record a drop in April.
Edge still the third top browser on the desktop
Safari, for example, which is only available on macOS, declined from 10.11% in March to 9.85% in April, though it continued to be the second most popular desktop browser out there. Sure, being offered as the native macOS browser definitely helps, but on the other hand, Microsoft Edge is also the default browser on Windows 10 and yet it still lost market share.
Edge went down from 8.03% in March to 7.96% in April, and despite this small drop, it managed to secure third place in the desktop browser race. Firefox is still pretty close despite going down slightly from 7.95% market share to 7.78%.
Like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge is a cross-platform browser right now, so in addition to Windows 10, it’s also available on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, macOS, and Linux. Earlier this week, Microsoft officially promoted Microsoft Edge for Linux to the beta channel, though at this point, there’s still no ETA as to when the stable version could get the go-ahead.
In addition, Microsoft Edge can also be downloaded on Android and iPhone from the two app stores.