Remember the days of Netscape and AOL? Even Internet Explorer is a relic, although 1.24% of the world still uses it as their browser. This was a time in our lives when the browser you used was nothing more than a matter of taste.
Not in 2022.
Your default internet browser tells a lot about who you are as a person. Safari means you’re an Apple fanatic, Internet Explorer means you remember the days of fax machines and pagers, and Brave means privacy is your #1 priority and Joe Rogan is #2.
As of January 2022, the browser market share worldwide consists of:
- Chrome: 63.04%
- Safari: 19.86%
- Firefox: 4.17%
- Edge: 4.11%
- Samsung Internet: 2.9%
- Opera: 2.33%
- IE: 1.06%
Google has been dominating the market (and the world) with Chrome leading the market since late 2012. Prior to this, Internet Explorer was the worldwide default, with Chrome in second, and Firefox in a close third.
At the start of the Internet Age, the world had fewer options: only Internet Explorer or Netscape. Opera joined the market in 1996, with Safari entering in 2003. Firefox debuted in 2004 and 2008 is when Chrome started its take-over.
What does YOUR choice of browser say about you?
You choose what works and what isn’t the default. Chrome is the most popular web browser on the planet. You like it because it’s intuitive, well-organized, and aesthetically pleasing. You probably also use Google as your search engine (which also dominates the search engine market) and have a Gmail account, all of which is built in to the browser itself.
You like to go with the flow. Safari is Mac and iPhone’s default browser, is preloaded onto your OS, and you see no reason to change it up. Maybe you’re an Apple purist and appreciate the Handoff feature to continue your browsing session between Apple devices.
You’re an informed consumer and you like to have things your way. Maybe you were an early adopter of Firefox or even a prior user of Netscape. If you didn’t have a Mac, Firefox was your first go-to alternative to Internet Explorer when it debuted in 2004. Maybe you’re an advocate of open-source projects and nonprofits.
You have a Samsung phone, probably a Samsung Galaxy. It’s the web browser that comes pre-installed on your device and is therefore, the default you clearly didn’t change.
Just like Safari users, you like to go with the flow. Edge comes pre-installed on PCs; therefore, you probably find no reason to experiment with other browsers. You likely don’t customize it much and utilize a minimal amount of extensions (if any). Maybe you long for the days of Internet Explorer and want to continue the Microsoft lineage.
You like straying from the norm (and built-in extensions, like an ad-blocker or VPN). Opera has been an alternative browser choice since long before the other options even existed. Maybe you’re a cryptocurrency nerd and appreciate its built-in cryptocurrency wallet, as well as it’s crypto-mining protection.
You’re over the age of 50. You’ve used IE since its inception in 1995 and use it beyond its discontinuation in 2021. You’re not sure what a gif is, and you only use the browser to print out your MapQuest directions. Your grandchildren love the nostalgic vibe of the emails you send from Outlook 98.
You like your privacy, hate censorship, listen to The Joe Rogan Podcast, and use DuckDuckGo as your search engine. You like Brave’s ad-blocking capabilities, Tor integration, built-in cryptocurrency wallet, tracker blocker, and rewards system. You’ve likely chosen Brave solely for its claimed privacy capabilities but appreciate the familiarity of the Chromium engine.
If you’re a default browser user (looking at you, Safari and Edge users), maybe this post has shed some light on other options you can try out. Maybe you’d never heard of Brave prior to this and would like to try a more privacy-centered browser. Or maybe, just maybe, you’re an Internet Explorer user and will still never change your ways.
