Google Chrome’s latest update proves its resilience
Not surprisingly, Google is desperate to keep Chrome stable, pushing back on the DOJ’s campaign to sell the browser. However, Chrome is proving to be remarkably resilient, just as it is with a new update that is especially bad news for Microsoft and the Windows operating system.
Microsoft has campaigned hard to get Chrome users to switch to its Edge browser, given the complaints and ads built into Windows itself, including those that crash Chrome installations on a PC. While this has generally proven ineffective, Microsoft has also developed a stronger tactic, pushing users to switch to Edge for security reasons, especially in an enterprise environment. As I’ve commented, if users switch to Edge at work, they’ll probably do the same at home.
Default Edger popup on Windows
However, while Edge has been steadily increasing its market share, growing more than 2% year-over-year to reach 13% of the desktop market, the already dominant Chrome was actually growing faster by the end of 2024. As picked up by Neowin from Statcounter’s latest numbers, “Chrome opens 2025 with a strong and unassailable 66.88% market share, increasing its market share by 0.5 points in a month and 1.65 points year-over-year.” Therefore, it appears that the Microsoft Windows campaign is simply not working.
Worldwide Desktop Browser Market Share (January – December 2024)
The latest Windows ads pushing users to Edge appeared in progress just before the holidays, with Latest Windows stating that “Microsoft Edge won’t stop bothering users to set itself as the default in Windows 11.” But while there’s clearly some conversion, it’s not nearly enough to break Chrome.
Default edge push
To be fair to Google’s PR team, they’ve proven themselves just as resilient, busting all sorts of recent Chrome headlines—the reversal of tracking cookies, the fabled Apple copycat ad The Birdssecurity warning after security warning and the unimaginably painful regulatory impasse of the Privacy Sandbox. There’s no need for them to overreact—Chrome’s user base has proven to care far more about the browser’s features and performance than its history of privacy and security bugs.
But 2025 could be different—we don’t yet know where the US antitrust campaign will end, and while Apple has he jumped to the defense of his frenzies in Chrome, there is still a lot of ground to cover. That said, Microsoft has its own concerns here. As Neowin explains, “browser makers and advocacy groups recently sent a letter to the European Commission asking it to subject Edge to DMA regulations and brand Microsoft as a watchdog that harms other businesses with predatory practices.”
Happy new year? Maybe not for long.
