Microsoft finally loses top browser spot to Google

There’s a saying that what goes up, must come down, and apparently Microsoft is the latest victim of that expression after finally losing it’s top browser spot to Google’s own Chrome browser. According to Net Applications, Microsoft’s downward trend coupled with Google’s simultaneous growth has resulted in Redmond securing 41.4% of browser share, just shy of Chrome’s 41.7% in the month of April.

Microsoft’s (yes, both IE and Edge were combined for these numbers) browser share has been on a 16 month decline, a move likely caused by Redmond’s idea to try and get users to migrate to IE11 back in 2014. Microsoft promised to stop providing security updates for older browsers by Jan of 2016, including IE8, at the time their most popular browser, and in the interim users have been looking to other companies for their web browsing needs.

However, with the recent announcement that Cortana searches will only be allowed inside of it’s Edge browser in an effort to fully optimize the voice assistant (after all Cortana is more than just a search engine), the new Windows Ink, and support for Edge browser extensions, hopefully Microsoft is able to turn things around with this years Anniversary Update, due in 2 months.