Chrome overtakes IE to become most popular browser

Google’s Chrome is now the most popular internet browser in the world, according to a new study.

The latest Adobe Digital Index (ADI) report reveals that Chrome, which was already the biggest browser outside of the US, has now overtaken Microsoft's Internet Explorer in the United States.

According to the study, Google now commands a 31.8 per cent market in the US, up 6 per cent year-on-year. Internet Explorer is down 6 per cent to 30.9 per cent while, Apple's Safari is the third most popular browser with a 25 per cent share.

Mozilla’s Firefox browser is now at just 8.7 per cent, after falling from a near 20 per cent share over the past two years. ADI attributed the decline to its lack of mobile presence.

Internet Explorer remains the leading desktop browser in the US with a 43.3 per cent share. Chrome Desktop and Firefox Desktop browsers are at 30.6 per cent and 12.5 per cent respectively. Apple’s Safari has a 10.3 per cent market share.

Safari continues to be the browser of choice for mobile though. It has a 59.1 per cent share of the mobile browser market, compared to 20.3 per cent for Android, 14.3 per cent for Chrome and 2.8 per cent for Opera. Internet Explorer Mobile market share is at a paltry 1.8 per cent.

Adobe Analytics was used to detect the browsers used for 17 billion visits to 10,000 US consumer-facing Web sites in April 2014, and more than 1 trillion visits since 2008.

"In the past, there was just one browser-Internet Explorer-and the others were insignificant by comparison-they just really didn't matter," said Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst at ADI.

“Today, the market is fragmented. There are four big players, and there is a certain portion of the digital audience using each of them, depending on which device is in use at any given time. Marketers can no longer develop for a single browser-especially in the mobile space,” she added.