

It has also been vocal about its disapproval of reform to online advertising proposed by Google, which it sees as equally invasive as third-party cookies. On top of privacy-centric features for Firefox, the company has rolled out a range of new privacy products, including a VPN service. Perhaps sensing it cannot compete with Microsoft and Google when it comes to features, Mozilla’s favored battleground is now data privacy. The fact Firefox managed to retake third position from Edge last month (with a share of 3.45%) is a victory of sorts, but will be cold comfort for anyone who remembers a time in which Mozilla enjoyed a whopping 30% of the market, behind only Internet Explorer. According to Statcounter, the browser has either lost or maintained market share in ten of the last twelve months. Mozilla, meanwhile, has found it difficult to pull Firefox out of a downward spiral that now extends back a number of years. Although the Edge market share is up on the 3.08% held in January, there has been only a 0.1% change in the last six months. However, despite the company’s best efforts, the growth of Edge has stalled since the turn of the year, in part due to the pool of Internet Explorer and Edge Legacy users running dry, many of whom have now already made the transition. The growth of Microsoft’s new flagship can be attributed to a range of factors, including renewed marketing efforts and a commitment to making improvements that bring the experience in line with other modern browsers. In May, Edge even overtook Firefox in the rankings for the first time. Since its re-release in January 2020, Microsoft Edge has gone from strength to strength and now holds 3.4% of the market.
