January saw the third full month of IE11 availability with Windows 8.1, the first full month of Firefox 26 availability, and the release of Chrome 32. The latest numbers from Net Applications show IE11 has finally passed IE10, as well as that IE and Chrome were the only winners overall last month.
Between December and January, IE gained 0.30 percentage points (from 57.91 percent to 58.21 percent), Firefox dipped 0.27 percentage points (from 18.35 percent to 18.08 percent), and Chrome gained 0.06 percentage points (from 16.22 percent to 16.28 percent). Safari meanwhile dipped 0.02 percentage points to 5.80 percent and Opera slid 0.05 percentage points to 1.28 percent.
At 58.21 percent, Internet Explorer is starting off 2014 off well, although still below its highest point last year (November was 58.36 percent). Last January, the browser went back above the 55 percent mark, and it looks like 2014 it’s going to aim for the 60 percent mark.
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After phenomenal growth in December, IE11 grabbed an additional 1.09 percentage points (moving 10.42 percent to 11.51 percent), finally passing IE10. Its predecessor declined 1.77 percentage points to 9.28 percent, while IE9 slipped 0.04 percentage points to 8.92 percent.
IE8 unfortunately regained 0.61 percentage points, and it’s still the world’s most popular browser at 21.25 percent. IE11 continues to mainly steal market share from IE10 and IE9, since Windows XP users can’t upgrade past IE8.
IE7 somehow managed to gain 0.31 percentage points to 2.45 percent and IE6 also grew 0.11 percentage points to 4.54 percent. In September 2013, IE6 finally fell below the 5 percent mark, and thankfully it hasn’t regained all its losses.
At 18.08 percent, Firefox seems is hovering again; it has been at the 18 percent mark for the last seven months. Previously, it was in the 18 percent range all the way back in May 2008.
Firefox 26 gained another 6.82 percentage points to hit 13.42 percent. All the other versions lost share: Firefox 25 fell 6.92 percentage points, while Firefox 24, Firefox 23, and Firefox 22 lost a combined 0.18 points.
At 16.28 percent, Chrome continues to slowly recover its losses in 2013. Chrome 32 grabbed 6.79 percentage points, which would have been higher if it was available for a full month. All other versions lost share: Chrome 31 fell 6.22 points, while Chrome 30, Chrome 29, and Chrome 28 slipped a combined 0.16 points.
Net Applications uses data captured from 160 million unique visitors each month by monitoring some 40,000 websites for its clients. StatCounter is another popular service for watching market share moves; the company looks at 15 billion page views. To us, it makes more sense to keep track of users than page views (for more, see this post).
Nevertheless, for January 2014, StatCounter listed Chrome as first with 43.67 percent market share, IE in second with 22.85 percent, Firefox in third with 18.90 percent, Safari with 9.73 percent, and Opera with 1.30 percent. The only part everyone agrees on is that Safari and Opera are not in the top three.
See also – Windows 8.1 now up to 3.95% market share as it passes Vista, Windows 8 falls to 6.63%
Top Image Credit: Hugo Humberto Plácido da Silva
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