More people use Apple Safari as their desktop web browser than Microsoft Edge. In the battle of the default browsers, Apple is now winning.
Of course, there’s a third competitor that’s really in first place.
Safari growth reflects Mac growth
Browsers are how people interact with the web, which makes them arguably the most important application on a computer. Many average consumers use a browser almost exclusively, rarely needing to switch to another app.
So it’s good news for Apple that its Safari browser has surpassed Edge, Microsoft’s browser that replaced the venerable Internet Explorer. The default macOS browser had 11.9% of the global market in April 2023, according to StatCounter. That beats Edge’s 11% share.
The news comes almost a year after Safari passed 1 billion users.
Apple’s browser had a surge that pushed it above its rival in the past few months. Not surprisingly, that coincides with a surge in macOS adoption. Mac went from an 14.7% share of the global desktop market in December 2022 to 17.8% in March 2023, again according to StatCounter. Meanwhile, Windows’ share dropped from 75.4% to 63.1% over that same time span.
Battling for second place
While Apple is now ahead of Microsoft in the browser fight, both trail Google Chrome by a huge margin. This browser had 66.2% of the world market in April 2023.
Chrome has an advantage over Safari and Edge: it’s widely used on both macOS and Windows.
Google works hard to make Chrome compelling. The company wants computer users of all types to use its browser so it can track where they go on the web. It uses this info build profiles on Chrome users and then sell that information to advertisers — its real business.
