Chrome grabs fifth of the browser market

Chrome has claimed a fifth of the global browser market, according to one analyst firm.

StatCounter said Google’s browser had grabbed a 20.7% share of the worldwide market in June, while Internet Explorer fell to 44% and Firefox slid to 28%.

While rival analyst firm Net Applications reports the browser had only a 13% share last month, there’s no disputing Chrome has been steadily chipping away at its rivals’ user base since it arrived two years ago.

“It is a superb achievement by Google to go from under 3% two years ago to over 20% today,” said Aodhan Cullen, CEO of StatCounter. “While Google has been highly effective in getting Chrome downloaded the real test is actual browser usage which our stats measure.”

In the UK, StatCounter said Chrome had a 21.1% share, catching up to Firefox’s 21.7%.

Mobile browsing

Browsing on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets made up 5% of global traffic for the first time, according to Net Applications.

That traffic is made up of Apple’s iOS devices as well as rivals such as Android, BlackBerry and Symbian, but the iPad alone holds a fifth of that mobile traffic.