Despite Microsoft making good progress on Microsoft Edge over the years, the web browser built from the ground up for Windows 10 is still struggling for browser share on the desktop OS. Last month, Net Applications claimed that the web browser was currently being used by less than one in six Windows 10 users, with more than 60% of them using Google Chrome.
This was probably a good time for Microsoft to fight back, and the company published last week a series of ads explaining why Edge is better than its competitors (via Neowin). The first video is a power efficiency comparison showing three identical devices (Surface Books running the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update) streaming a continuously looping HD video. Microsoft found out that Edge streamed the video up to 63% longer (16h08) than Mozilla Firefox (9h52) and up to 19% longer than Google Chrome (13h31).
A more detailed analysis, which includes data for the Opera web browser can be found on this page. In a second video ad that specifically targets Google Chrome, Microsoft claims that Edge is also up to 48% faster and blocks 18% more phishing sites compared to Google’s web browser.
There is no doubt that Edge has its merits, especially for people who watch a lot video content on the web. Not only is Edge more power efficient than the competition, but it’s also the only one that lets you watch 4K Ultra HD videos with HDR and Dolby Audio. The web browser also comes with handy features for previewing, grouping and saving tabs, and now lets you pin websites to your Windows 10 task bar.
Still, Google Chrome and Firefox still have a much larger collection of extensions, and they’re also being updated much more frequently than Microsoft Edge. The release of Microsoft Edge for iOS and Android may well help the web browser gain share on Windows 10, but there is a really long way to go before it can catch up to Google Chrome. What do you think Microsoft Edge needs to become more appealing to Windows 10 users? Let us know in the comments below.
