14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 10 is growing at a slower pace than anyone expected, and as a direct consequence, Microsoft Edge, which is the new default browser in the operating system, is also having a hard time competing against rivals Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
NetMarketShare data for the month of February shows that Edge barely moved the needle last month, while its rivals improved their shares in a more substantial manner.
Google Chrome is the world’s number one PC browser with a share of 58.53 percent, so nearly 6 out of 10 computers are running this particular browser at the moment. This is undoubtedly impressive, especially because Chrome is not the default browser on Windows, which is the dominating operating system on the desktop.
On the other hand, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer dropped to 19.17 percent, and this is a decline that was more or less expected, especially because the browser is no longer actively improved. Internet Explorer isn’t getting any new features, but only security patches and fixes, with Microsoft focusing entirely on Edge in Windows 10.
Microsoft Edge performance
The third browser in the charts is Mozilla’s Firefox, which is now running on 11.68 percent of the PCs out there, while Microsoft Edge has approximately half of this share despite Redmond’s rather aggressive push for everyone to switch to Windows 10.
Edge is running on 5.55 percent of the PCs, up from 5.48 percent the month before, which shows that its adoption is primarily impacted by the limited availability in Windows 10.
Microsoft isn’t planning to release Edge browser on a different platform, with the company saying before the launch of Windows 10 that it first wanted to get the app right on its own operating system and then look beyond this possibility.
Microsoft Edge, however, is getting a major pack of improvements in the upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update due in April, including new tab options, such as website previews, plus new extensions that are already available for insiders.