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One key aspect of optimizing a website is considering what desktop browsers are most popular with your users. Although the goal is for your website to work well on all browsers, ensuring that it works on the most popular browsers is vital. Each year, our web habits change. Although web browsing on mobile devices is becoming increasingly more common, desktop use is still prevalent. Last year, we talked about mobile browsing becoming more popular. This year, Oberlo reports that more than half of web visits are occurring on mobile, at 58.26%. That still leaves desktop browsing at 41.74% of web usage but demonstrates a shift in the culture of web browsing. To perform the best testing for our customers, we stay up-to-date on the latest trends. Here’s a look at the most popular browsers in 2022, on both desktop and mobile.
Top Browsers Across Platforms
People tend to use different browsers more depending on the platform they are accessing them on. Overall, with all platforms taken into account, the main two browsers used worldwide are Chrome and Safari. Chrome is the most popular, achieving 64.95% of the global market share. It has steadily grown in popularity over the years, overtaking Internet Explorer in 2012. Safari, the second most popular browser at 19.01% of the global market share, has also seen recent growth as you can see in the animation below:
Safari has been second worldwide since 2014, but in recent years the growth has been more pronounced. This is likely due to the rise in mobile web browsing.
How to Identify Which Browsers to Test
Although the worldwide trends paint a certain picture of the most popular browsers, these statistics vary based on the region you are targeting. It’s vital to know who your users are and where they are located, to identify where you should focus your efforts.
Worldwide, Chrome is the leading browser regardless of the platform (desktop, mobile, or tablet), achieving just shy of 65% of the global market share. If you’re launching a website worldwide, it should be prioritized for testing.. However, if you’re launching in the United States, Chrome isn’t necessarily as popular. For all platforms, it’s reached 48.53% of the market share, but Safari is close behind at 35.56%. In China, Chrome is also below 50% and Safari only reaches 12.28%. Those numbers change even more when you dive into more specific desktop or mobile market share statistics.
Desktop Browsers
For desktop browsing, there has been a clear winner for many years: Google Chrome. Chrome leads with a global market share of 66.16% on desktops. The second leading browser is Microsoft Edge at 10.11%, just beating Safari at 9.16% of the global market share. Edge has been gaining popularity for desktop browsing, and is more popular in regions such as China and the United States, justifying its place as a browser to target when testing.
Mobile Browsers
When it comes to the leading mobile browsers, Safari can compete more with Chrome. Chrome still maintains the majority of the global market share at 64.83%, but Safari is following at 24.77%. In the United States, however, Safari is the leading browser. With 53.23% of the US mobile market share, Safari must be prioritized for mobile web optimization if you’re releasing to the US. This stark difference in leading browsers is easily attributed to Apple’s popularity in the US, as Safari comes pre-installed on all iPhones. Chrome has still achieved 41.03% of this market, and should also be included when aiming for mobile web optimization in the US.
Compatibility Testing
When an issue occurs on a specific browser or mobile device, we cross-reference the issue on various versions of platforms and browsers so our clients receive a detailed list of devices where the issue occurs. We provide compatibility testing to our clients, helping them identify which browsers and devices should be prioritized. Reach out if you’d like to work with us!