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Microsoft has released a review of the past year for its Edge browser while promoting AI-driven chats and briefly glossing over the software’s stagnant market share.
The organization shared some impressive numbers to report. There were over 10 billion AI-driven conversations with Copilot from within the Edge browser interface (although it did not specify how many interactions were customers inquiring about installing Chrome). Approximately 38 trillion characters were automatically translated. Additionally, seven trillion megabytes of computer memory were conserved utilizing sleeping tabs.
Nonetheless, are those figures genuinely as substantial as they appear? What Microsoft omitted to mention is how minimally Edge has impacted its market share in 2024.
Interestingly, the company did not disclose explicit usage statistics. However, a glance at Statcounter’s data for the desktop browser market share indicated that Edge held 11.9 percent of the market in December 2023, and reached 12.87 percent by November 2024 – an increase of under 1 percent.
The leading market contender, Google’s Chrome browser, increased from 65.23 percent to 66.33 percent during the same timeframe. That’s just slightly over 1 percent, but it continues to dominate the landscape.
When Chrome gained traction, it was partly due to dissatisfaction with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) browser, as well as updates like a required browser choice screen. Whereas IE was cumbersome and had compatibility issues, Chrome was user-friendly, efficient, and speedy. How times have altered.
Microsoft’s effort to replace IE with Edge, built on its proprietary EdgeHTML browser engine, was rapidly abandoned in favor of the currently utilized Chromium-based Edge.
Chrome and numerous other browsers are also constructed on Chromium. While some significant exceptions exist, such as Mozilla’s Firefox, Chromium remains the prevalent browser engine. This can complicate efforts at differentiation, particularly when users have grown accustomed to one specific browser. The longstanding humor that many individuals perceive Edge as merely the means to download Chrome persists, based on the market share statistics.
It’s not for lack of effort. Microsoft’s competitors have expressed grievances regarding the company’s strategies to encourage users toward Edge, but in the end, clients require a justification for switching to a different browser.
Legislators might compel Google to divest from Chrome, but differentiating is complicated given the multitude of browsers utilizing the same browser engine. Microsoft’s strategy seems to focus on demonstrating just how much telemetry it collects. 7.3 billion passwords are secured each month, and “in 2024, you also remained updated and inspired daily with over 800 million articles, narratives, and updates viewed on MSN.”
Microsoft is eager for users to explore “Edge’s AI-powered features to help you attain more than you envisioned.”
But expanding market share in 2025? It will require more than just the AI-driven tools available today to accomplish that. ®
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