The battle to be the world’s second favorite browser has taken an unusual twist as the fight to beat Google Chrome intensifies.
The latest Statcounter figures have shown that although Microsoft Edge and Apple Safari have been neck and neck for some time, (with Edge taking a marginal lead for much of 2022) there has been a sudden spike in interest for Safari.
Apple browser has now assumed second position for desktop browser share, taking 11.9% of the market - ahead of Edge at 11.0%.
Should I use Safari?
It’s unclear what has been the driving factor behind Safari’s success in a period when Edge has been ramping up its involvement with the Bing AI assistant, a move which has garnered press attention and headlines across the world.
Safari comes preinstalled on all Apple hardware, and in its latest iteration, includes some updates such as shared tab groups and support for Passkeys, though sites have been slow to roll out support for the passwordless feature that’s built into other browsers, too.
It also promises to be the world’s fastest browser, however it’s only available for Macs and as such is well-optimized for the hardware that is available. Apple discontinued Safari for Windows devices several years ago.
In terms of multi-platform market share, Safari maintains a much stronger second position accounting for 20.5%, with Edge trailing far behind at 5.0%. That will be thanks to the immense popularity of the iPhone, compared with Macs which tend to be more costly than lower-end Windows counterparts.
Nevertheless, Chrome looks to be under no threat in the immediate future as it continues to lead the way, accounting for two-thirds (65.8%) of the desktop browser market, and almost as much (64.8%) across all platforms.
Google's browser recently introduced a series of power- and memory-saving updates to help it match (and exceed) some of Safari’s figures, as Apple users continue to download the third-party browser favoring its cross-platform syncing abilities.
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