Dive Brief:

• Google Chrome is now officially the most popular desktop browser, according to analytics firm Net Applications. 

• Microsoft's global browser user share—which includes both Internet Explorer and Edge—fell for the fifth straight month, losing two percentage points in April. 

• At the end of April, Net Applications found Chrome has 41.7% of the browser market share—a very slim lead over Internet Explorer’s 41.4%.

Dive Insight:

Though this was long-expected, April marked the end of Microsoft's browser reign. In one year, Chrome's user share has increased from around 25% to just over 41%. Other browsers are either slightly losing ground or stagnating.

In January, Microsoft announced it was ending support for older versions of Internet Explorer and encouraged users to upgrade to Internet Explorer 11 or Microsoft Edge. Asking users to change browsers may have backfired, experts speculate, as it forced people to rethink their browser choice.

Some speculate Edge simply isn’t that important to Microsoft. Google needs its web browser to be popular so it can sell other services and retrieve user data required to keep its ad revenue stable, experts say. But Microsoft has fewer concerns in those areas, and likely less motivation to ensure their browsers are top-notch.