Browser Trends December 2013: Blink Browsers Bite Back
Internet Explorer has been on an upward surge since July and last month was no exception. But the browser market rarely remains still so let’s check StatCounter’s latest figures…
Worldwide Browser Statistics October 2013 to November 2013
The following table shows browser usage movements during the past month.
| Browser | October | November | change | relative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IE (all) | 28.94% | 27.29% | -1.65% | -5.70% |
| IE11 | 0.13% | 1.47% | +1.34% | +1,030.80% |
| IE10 | 12.44% | 11.10% | -1.34% | -10.80% |
| IE9 | 5.99% | 5.29% | -0.70% | -11.70% |
| IE8 | 9.56% | 8.65% | -0.91% | -9.50% |
| IE7 | 0.59% | 0.50% | -0.09% | -15.30% |
| IE6 | 0.23% | 0.28% | +0.05% | +21.70% |
| Chrome | 40.45% | 41.95% | +1.50% | +3.70% |
| Firefox | 18.09% | 18.13% | +0.04% | +0.20% |
| Safari | 8.53% | 8.48% | -0.05% | -0.60% |
| Opera | 1.12% | 1.14% | +0.02% | +1.80% |
| Others | 2.87% | 3.01% | +0.14% | +4.90% |
Worldwide Browser Statistics November 2012 to November 2013
The following table shows browser usage movements during the past twelve months:
| Browser | November 2012 | November 2013 | change | relative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IE (all) | 31.22% | 27.29% | -3.93% | -12.60% |
| IE11 | 0.00% | 1.47% | +1.47% | n/a |
| IE10 | 0.29% | 11.10% | +10.81% | +3,727.60% |
| IE9 | 17.65% | 5.29% | -12.36% | -70.00% |
| IE8 | 12.00% | 8.65% | -3.35% | -27.90% |
| IE7 | 0.87% | 0.50% | -0.37% | -42.50% |
| IE6 | 0.41% | 0.28% | -0.13% | -31.70% |
| Chrome | 35.78% | 41.95% | +6.17% | +17.20% |
| Firefox | 22.36% | 18.13% | -4.23% | -18.90% |
| Safari | 7.84% | 8.48% | +0.64% | +8.20% |
| Opera | 1.40% | 1.14% | -0.26% | -18.60% |
| Others | 1.40% | 3.01% | +1.61% | +115.00% |
The tables show market share estimates for desktop browsers. The ‘change’ column is the absolute increase or decrease in market share. The ‘relative’ column indicates the proportional change, i.e. 15.3% of IE7 users switched browsers last month. There are several caveats so I recommend you read How Browser Market Share is Calculated.
It’s becoming a two-horse race. Chrome had its biggest jump since April with a 1.5% rise. The majority of users migrated from Internet Explorer (in reality, the situation is a little more complex). I suspected this could owe much to Thanksgiving in the US: Chrome does better during weekends and holidays while IE increases on work days. However, Chrome’s US rise was replicated in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and Oceania.
It wasn’t all bad for Microsoft — there are ten times more IE11 users than there were at the start of the November. That said, IE10 dropped as fast as IE11 grew so it’s primarily those upgrading. The good news for developers is IE8 is starting to fall again. However, the browser will be resilient while XP usage remains strong.
Firefox, Safari and Opera barely moved. Opera 15+ is now used by 0.42% of the market or a third of all Opera users. I doubt the other two-thirds will consider upgrading until the feature set approaches that of Opera 12.
Mobile Browser Usage
Mobile web usage increased to a record-breaking 20.04% of all web activity during November. One in five web visits is now from a mobile device.
The top mobile browsing applications:
| Mobile Browser | October | November | change | relative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android | 25.62% | 26.69% | +1.07% | +4.20% |
| iPhone | 19.18% | 20.19% | +1.01% | +5.30% |
| Opera Mini/Mobile | 24.03% | 16.51% | -7.52% | -31.30% |
| UC Browser | 10.45% | 11.56% | +1.11% | +10.60% |
| Nokia Browser | 5.84% | 7.06% | +1.22% | +20.90% |
| Chrome | 4.77% | 6.30% | +1.53% | +32.10% |
| Blackberry | 2.87% | 3.21% | +0.34% | +11.80% |
| Others | 7.24% | 8.48% | +1.24% | +17.10% |
The Android version of Chrome had an amazing month and looks set to overtake Nokia in December.
Last month’s weird 7% Opera increase has been reversed. StatCounter reported a spike in Opera-generated traffic on 26 September — it appears to be legitimate rather than bot-related, but there’s no known explanation. Unless you know otherwise…
