Microsoft’s Edge browser represents a fundamental break from the past, leaving behind the aging Internet Explorer and moving forward with a more standards-compliant product. Edge is available only on Windows 10 for PCs and mobile, of course, and so its potential market is naturally limited to the 200 or so million people who’ve made the migration to Microsoft’s newest OS.
Back in December of 2015, we reported that Edge was losing market share in the US and worldwide, which didn’t bode particularly well for the browser’s future. While people are migrating to Windows 10, it seemed that they were holding on to their previous browsers (including Google’s Chrome). At least by one metric, however, Edge seems to have rebounded slightly in February.
According to Net Applications, Edge increased to just over 4% share when considering all available versions of Edge, up a full percentage point from January, when Edge was running on roughly 3% of desktops. While that’s not a significant increase by any means, it does reverse the trend of a few months of decreases.
It’s reasonable to assume that a few things are holding back Edge’s adoption. First, there’s the relative dearth of people using Windows 10, and general performance and reliability issues that continue to plague the new browser. Perhaps more important, Edge still needs to be fleshed out regarding overall capabilities, with extensions perhaps being the most-sought and more conspicuously missing functionality. Until those two issues are resolved, Chrome and other browsers, including Microsoft’s older Internet Explorer, will likely maintain their dominant positions.
We’ll be keeping our eye on how Edge continues to advance. Check back often to remain up-to-date on one of Microsoft’s newest and most important products.
