JavaScript archives
Compatibility
Thidrekssaga
QuirksBlog
Donations
CSS book
Politics
Mobile
About
COH
It’s time for some mobile browser stats, as always according to StatCounter. Here are the figures for Q4 last year, as well as for 2012 as a whole. Summary: an excellent year for Google’s browsers.
If you’re so inclined you can see ominous portents of the approaching WebKit apocalypse in these numbers. Non-WebKit browsers are losing market share everywhere.
Let’s start with the Q4 figures.
On the mobile side we see Android regaining its upward swing after a few quarters of stagnation. In Q3 it won two points, and in Q4 three. Android is now clearly the largest browser, ahead of Safari.
Opera, meanwhile, has gone into slight but unmistakable decline. So far its decline could be attributed to natural variations, but now that it’s clear that Opera has lost market share every single quarter of 2012, I have to revise my opinion.
Gains for UC, which is strengthening its position, and also for Firefox, which appeared on my radar last quarter.
I wonder who’ll reach 2% first: IE, Chrome, or Firefox.
| Browser | Q4 2012 | ch | Q3 2012 | ch | Q2 2012 | ch | Q1 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android | 27% | +3 | 24% | +2 | 22% | 0 | 22% |
| Safari | 23% | -1 | 24% | 0 | 24% | 0 | 24% |
| Opera | 18% | -1 | 19% | -3 | 22% | -1 | 23% |
| Nokia | 10% | 0 | 10% | -1 | 11% | -1 | 12% |
| UC | 9% | +1 | 8% | 0 | 8% | +2 | 6% |
| NetFront | 4% | 0 | 4% | 0 | 4% | +1 | 3% |
| BlackBerry | 4% | 0 | 4% | -1 | 5% | -1 | 6% |
| Dolfin | 1% | 0 | 1% | 0 | 1% | 0 | 1% |
| IE | 1% | 0 | 1% | 0 | 1% | +1 | 0 |
| Chrome | 1% | 0 | 1% | +1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Samsung | 1% | 0 | 1% | 0 | 1% | 0 | 1% |
| Firefox | 1% | +1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 0 | -3 | 3% | +2 | 1% | -1 | 2% |
| Volatility | 5% | 5% | 4% | ||||
| Mobile | 13% | +1 | 12% | +2 | 10% | +1 | 9% |
On the desktop side Chrome continues its onward march, and leaves IE and Firefox behind. Q3 was the first quarter where Chrome was the largest desktop browser; the Q4 numbers reinforce this: it steals yet another two points from IE, making the gap between them a full 5%.
| Browser | Q4 2012 | ch | Q3 2012 | ch | Q2 2012 | ch | Q1 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrome | 36% | +2 | 34% | +2 | 32% | +2 | 30% |
| IE | 31% | -2 | 33% | 0 | 33% | -3 | 36% |
| Firefox | 22% | -1 | 23% | -2 | 25% | 0 | 25% |
| Safari | 8% | +1 | 7% | 0 | 7% | 0 | 7% |
| Opera | 1% | -1 | 2% | 0 | 2% | 0 | 2% |
| Others | 2% | +1 | 1% | 0 | 1% | +1 | 0 |
| Volatility | 4% | 2% | 3% |
Now the yearly figures for 2009-2012.
When seen year-over-year Android’s growth is even more impressive: 33% in one year. The cost is borne mostly by Opera and the other browsers.
Nokia loses and UC gains, but this is partly caused by a StatCounter detection error that was corrected in Q4 2011. Nokia immediately lost about 5% to UC.
IE appears on the yearly radar, which will cause happy faces in Redmond, although its market share could use a bit of a boost. Chrome and Firefox are still too new to make 1% browsing share over a full year.
The real story is in the last row, though. Mobile browsing now accounts for 11% of all browsing — and remember StatCounter counts tablets with the desktop, so this 11% is only phones. Impressive, huh? And I don’t think it’s going to stop any time soon.
| Browser | 2012 | ch | 2011 | ch | 2010 | ch | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android | 24% | +6 | 18% | +9 | 9% | +6 | 3% |
| Safari | 24% | +1 | 23% | -2 | 25% | -9 | 34% |
| Opera | 20% | -2 | 22% | -2 | 24% | -1 | 25% |
| Nokia | 11% | -4 | 15% | -1 | 16% | -3 | 19% |
| UC | 8% | +6 | 2% | +1 | 1% | +1 | 0 |
| BlackBerry | 5% | -6 | 11% | -5 | 16% | +8 | 8% |
| NetFront | 4% | +1 | 3% | -1 | 4% | -1 | 5% |
| Dolfin | 1% | 0 | 1% | +1 | - | - | - |
| IE | 1% | +1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 1% |
| Samsung | 1% | 0 | 1% | 0 | 1% | +1 | 0 |
| Other | 1% | -3 | 4% | 0 | 4% | -1 | 5% |
| Volatility | 15% | 11% | 16% | ||||
| Mobile | 11% | +5 | 6% | +3 | 3% | +2 | 1% |
On the desktop, Chrome’s year-over-year growth is also very impressive, and IE’s decline even more so. Over 2012 as a whole IE was still marginally larger, but that means little any more. Firefox starts to trend down, too.
| Browser | 2012 | ch | 2011 | ch | 2010 | ch | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IE | 33% | -10 | 43% | -8 | 51% | -9 | 60% |
| Chrome | 33% | +12 | 21% | +11 | 10% | +7 | 3% |
| Firefox | 24% | -4 | 28% | -3 | 31% | +1 | 30% |
| Safari | 7% | +2 | 5% | +1 | 4% | +1 | 3% |
| Opera | 2% | 0 | 2% | 0 | 2% | -1 | 3% |
| Others | 1% | 0 | 1% | -1 | 2% | +1 | 1% |
| Volatility | 14% | 12% | 10% |
This is the blog of Peter-Paul Koch, web developer, consultant, and trainer.
You can also follow
him on Twitter or Mastodon.
Atom
RSS
If you like this blog, why not donate a little bit of money to help me pay my bills?
Categories:
