Chrome is now the World's Most Popular Browser

Google has done the impossible: the search giant has toppled the browser throne, replacing Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as the world’s most popular browser. Many thought that this couldn’t happen simply because Internet Explorer comes with Windows. But despite a gradual increase in quality, Internet Explorer’s checkered past has done it in.

The data, collated by Statcounter, shows a steady growth in Chrome’s marketshare at the expense of Internet Explorer. Over the last several months, Internet Explorer has had a slow decline that almost exactly matches Chrome’s increase.

Chrome’s growth made it more popular than Firefox starting a couple months ago, something that isn’t likely to change. However, Firefox is still sitting pretty in third place, holding roughly a quarter of the market.

It should be noted that Internet Explorer is still the dominant browser for the United States. Here, it has 37% of the market while Chrome as 26%.

The distribution of the marketshare is pretty interesting. Internet Explorer dominates in Oceania, with more than 50% of the market, with roughly the same market share in Japan. In China and South Korea, Internet Explorer has three quarters of the market. Firefox, meanwhile, only manages to dominate in Africa.

Chrome, meanwhile, leads in India by 8%. But its real advantage comes from South America, where it takes nearly 50% of the market.

How you read into this information is up to you. But Chrome has been trending upward, and quickly, so I think we should see it capture some larger countries here soon. Not that it needs to, what with it being the most popular browser. But it would add a little more legitimacy to it.

The Verge Photo by : StatCounter