In last month’s browser trends report, US Internet Explorer 8.0 usage appeared to return to normal. Let’s check the latest figures from StatCounter…
Worldwide Desktop & Tablet Browser Statistics, January to February 2015
The following table shows browser usage movements during the past month.
| Browser | January | February | change | relative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IE (all) | 19.26% | 18.89% | -0.37% | -1.90% |
| IE11 | 10.74% | 10.53% | -0.21% | -2.00% |
| IE10 | 1.94% | 1.90% | -0.04% | -2.10% |
| IE9 | 2.53% | 2.39% | -0.14% | -5.50% |
| IE6/7/8 | 4.05% | 4.07% | +0.02% | +0.50% |
| Chrome | 48.26% | 48.83% | +0.57% | +1.20% |
| Firefox | 16.96% | 16.53% | -0.43% | -2.50% |
| Safari | 4.45% | 4.46% | +0.01% | +0.20% |
| iPad Safari | 5.82% | 5.75% | -0.07% | -1.20% |
| Opera | 1.52% | 1.60% | +0.08% | +5.30% |
| Others | 3.73% | 3.94% | +0.21% | +5.60% |
Worldwide Desktop & Tablet Browser Statistics, February 2014 to February 2015
The following table shows browser usage movements during the past twelve months:
| Browser | February 2014 | February 2015 | change | relative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IE (all) | 22.47% | 18.89% | -3.58% | -15.90% |
| IE11 | 7.97% | 10.53% | +2.56% | +32.10% |
| IE10 | 4.21% | 1.90% | -2.31% | -54.90% |
| IE9 | 3.59% | 2.39% | -1.20% | -33.40% |
| IE6/7/8 | 6.70% | 4.07% | -2.63% | -39.30% |
| Chrome | 43.96% | 48.83% | +4.87% | +11.10% |
| Firefox | 19.19% | 16.53% | -2.66% | -13.90% |
| Safari | 9.73% | 10.21% | +0.48% | +4.90% |
| Opera | 1.30% | 1.60% | +0.30% | +23.10% |
| Others | 3.35% | 3.94% | +0.59% | +17.60% |
(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. 5.5% of IE9 users switched browsers last month. There are several caveats so I recommend you read How Browser Market Share is Calculated.)
It’s the same old story: Chrome usage grows at the expense of other browsers. There haven’t been any 1% monthly surges for a while but the browser rarely drops. February’s biggest loser was Firefox which lost almost half a point. I don’t think Mozilla is doing anything particularly wrong — it’s just difficult to entice users back once they’ve switched to Chrome.
Internet Explorer didn’t fare much better. IE6/7/8 stubbornly refused to move but a hardcore of users and corporations won’t upgrade for a few more years. Yes, years. It’s frustrating but, if your audience has a large proportion of oldIE users, it’s your job to support those browsers. Moaning won’t help. If you don’t like it, the easiest option is to switch to a job with a different user profile.
The only other browser to make gains was Opera. It’s been steadily rising for the past year although a third of users have refused to migrate from version 12. Vivaldi could offer those people an upgrade path — more about that soon.
Worldwide Mobile Browser Statistics, January to February 2015
Mobile usage dipped by a quarter of a point during February and stands at 32.98% of all web activity. It’s the second monthly drop but I still think we could achieve 50% mobile/desktop parity by the end of 2015.
The top mobile browsing applications:
| Mobile Browser | January | February | change | relative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrome | 29.22% | 30.68% | +1.46% | +5.00% |
| iPhone | 20.97% | 21.35% | +0.38% | +1.80% |
| Android | 19.07% | 19.08% | +0.01% | +0.10% |
| UC Browser | 12.07% | 11.65% | -0.42% | -3.50% |
| Opera Mini/Mobile | 9.55% | 8.66% | -0.89% | -9.30% |
| Nokia Browser | 2.84% | 2.57% | -0.27% | -9.50% |
| IEMobile | 2.12% | 2.13% | +0.01% | +0.50% |
| Others | 4.16% | 3.88% | -0.28% | -6.70% |
Chrome had a great month with a 1.5% leap. Surprisingly, the stock Android browser remains just above 19% and doesn’t appear to be affected by Chrome’s growth. Perhaps people are keeping older phones for longer?
Safari on the iPhone is solid but the majority of older browsers fell. Beyond the bottom of the chart, Blackberry has fallen to a lowly 0.99% despite holding a third of the market a few years ago. The company has promised a come-back but it’s difficult to see how they can compete against the mighty iPhone and Android platforms.
Craig BucklerCraig is a freelance UK web consultant who built his first page for IE2.0 in 1995. Since that time he's been advocating standards, accessibility, and best-practice HTML5 techniques. He's created enterprise specifications, websites and online applications for companies and organisations including the UK Parliament, the European Parliament, the Department of Energy & Climate Change, Microsoft, and more. He's written more than 1,000 articles for SitePoint and you can find him @craigbuckler.
