Microsoft is literally losing its Edge, as browser reportedly sheds a quarter of its users in six months – but I'm not surprised

• Microsoft Edge has dropped to a 10.37% browser market share
• Statcounter figures show it has lost a lot of users since May
• Meanwhile Chrome has never been more dominant with a 73.81% share

Microsoft Edge continues to plummet in popularity, and Google Chrome hasn't been more dominant in a long time, according to fresh stats on desktop web browsers.

Statcounter's figures for September 2025 show that Chrome now holds 73.81% of the overall browser market on PCs, and while Edge is still in second place, it sunk to 10.37% last month.

That represents a loss of 1.36% over this past month, and a very worrying drop since May 2025, when Edge had a 13.64% market share going by Statcounter's estimation (and of course, it is just that – an estimation). Matters just seem to be going from bad to worse for Microsoft here.

In September, Safari (in third) also slipped to 5.69% from 6.34%. Firefox is in fourth place on 4.45% and also dropped from 4.93%, all of which fuelled Chrome's gains.

Analysis: Microsoft needs to rethink its browser strategy

It's Edge which is the clear loser here, though, and to have shed almost 3.3% of its desktop browser share in the past five months is really bad news. While that percentage figure may not sound like that big a deal, remember that it's a fall of 3.3% relative to a high point of 13.64% this year – so that's actually a relative loss of a quarter of the browser's user base.

Can Microsoft afford to go backwards like this? No, absolutely not. More to the point: why is Microsoft's share in reverse like this? That's a good question, and I have an answer which is purely speculation, but I feel it's very likely that there's some truth to it: Microsoft is simply too pushy with Edge.

Yes, I've said this before, but the more the Edge browser is promoted in one way or another in Windows 11 (or indeed Windows 10), the more people are likely to be put off. When something is consistently shoved in your face over the years, the automatic reaction for many people is to start to get suspicious. Why is Microsoft so keen to get me to use Edge? Why does it keep telling me to make Edge my default browser? It sows distrust that there must be something wrong with Edge that it needs the backing of this much nagging.

It might also be a source of annoyance for some that Microsoft has given license to Windows 11 users in Europe to remove Edge (and stop the nagging related to it), due to data regulations - but nobody else gets that privilege.

Another possible reason folks are leaving Edge is a perception that the browser might be bloated with extra features that nobody wants. That's a trickier area, though, because in more recent times, Microsoft has realized this is an issue and has been enacting streamlining measures. What Microsoft does keep doing, though, is adding more AI capabilities – as part of its overall Copilot AI drive – to the browser, which may be a turn-off for some. (Although in this case, I don't agree – there are some genuinely useful AI trimmings, at least in my book).

So, we could argue about pinning down the exact reasons, but my strong feeling is that promoting Edge is the root cause of this exodus, and that the various ads and promos for the browser are very much backfiring.

It seems to be becoming clear enough that Microsoft needs to try a different approach - so how about laying off the nagging, and giving users across the globe the same choices regarding Edge? Okay, that means granting folks the chance to remove it, and while uninstalling Edge to get more users may seem counterintuitive, this is really about meaningfully changing perceptions - and building trust that there isn't some kind of hidden 'agenda' with the browser.

Most of all, it's a shame to see Edge failing as 2025 rolls onwards, as it is actually a good browser – the top dog, in fact, in our roundup of the best web browsers. Something is very wrong somewhere, then, for it to be flailing around as badly as Statcounter's figures indicate.

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