Apple's Safari web browser is now the second most popular app of its kind on desktops, according to a new report.
Safari took the second spot from Microsoft's Edge browser, although only by the smallest of margins. The gap between Safari and the top of the chart where Google's Chrome sits pretty is much, much bigger, however.
With Safari making up 11.87% of the desktop web browsing market Chrome decimates the competition with a whopping 66.13% of the market.
A long way to second place
The huge difference between Chrome in top spot and Safari in second shouldn't be all that surprising considering the fact that Chrome is available on Windows and macOS, whereas Safari is obviously only available on Apple's devices. The fact that Safari has taken second place from Edge — according to numbers shared by Statcounter — is much more interesting.
It's likely that Safari's surge comes on the back of strong 2022 Mac sales, putting Safari at the fingertips of more people. As for why Apple sold so many computers, that's likely down to 2022 still benefiting from the tail end of the COVID-19 work-from-home sales boom not to mention the fact that Apple is now making some of the best Macs it's ever produced — the MacBook Air and latest 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros for example, while the 15-inch MacBook Air rumors suggest Apple isn't done yet.
As for the rest of the web browsers available on desktop machines, it's worth noting that Safari only beat Edge out by the finest of margins. Safari's 11.87% was enough to just edge out Microsoft's browser and its 11% share, while Firefox accounts for 5.65% of desktop web browser share. Opera makes up 3.09% while Internet Explorer still holds on to 0.55%. We have to imagine that's businesses running older versions of Windows and refusing to upgrade.
