The battle of the browsers continues, as Firefox edged just ahead of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Edge browsers for desktop users in April.

But Google’s Chrome browser remains the outright leader with more than 60 per cent of the desktop market during the month, new data from StatCounter showed.

The latest figures show Firefox took a 15.6 per cent share, just ahead of Internet Explorer and Edge’s combined 15.5 per cent. Edge replaced Internet Explorer as the main web browser in Windows 10, although Internet Explorer is still available to enterprises.

"Microsoft might have expected a boost to its overall browser share as the result of the launch of the Windows 10 with Edge but it hasn't happened to date," said StatCounter chief executive Aodhan Cullen. "Chrome has continued to gain share globally."

When mobile users are taken into account, Chrome still remains top, at 47 per cent, with Apple’s Safari browser in second place at almost 13 per cent. Firefox comes in third at 8.4 per cent.

In Ireland, Chrome usage is at almost 52 per cent across mobile and desktop platforms, with Safari taking almost a quarter of traffic. Firefox comes in third, according to StatCounter.

While the global figures show some adoption of alternative browser - UC browser, for example, comes in just below Firefox for desktop users - there is no evidence of any significant shift to browsers outside the top four. Only 3 per cent of desktop users were on Microsoft’s new Edge browser, with almost 12 per cent sticking with Internet Explorer. Safari account for 6 per cent of traffic from desktops, with Firefox on 13 per cent and Chrome the runaway winner with more than 63 per cent.

The StatCounter data is based on more than 15 billion page views per month to over three million websites.