Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) has fallen below 50pc of the worldwide market for the first time, according to StatCounter.
The research, undertaken by StatCounter Global Stats, finds that IE use fell to 49.87pc in September.
Firefox followed with 31.5pc and Google’s Chrome increased market share to 11.54pc.
Chrome’s usage has tripled since last year, where it was at just 3.69pc.
“This is certainly a milestone in the internet browser wars,” commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO of StatCounter.
“Just two years ago, IE dominated the worldwide market with 67pc.”
Cullen noted that Microsoft’s agreement with the European Commission competition authorities to offer EU users a choice of browsers from March may have had a hand in the falling figures.
Europe saw IE’s market share fall to 40.26pc, compared to 46.44pc at the same time last year.
In North America, IE is still above 50pc. Firefox follows at 27.21pc and Chrome comes after at 9.87pc.
Chrome also overtook Safari in June for the first time in North America.
The news comes just after Microsoft’s launch of its Internet Explorer 9 beta, an upgrade to the browser.
Microsoft hopes to regain its user base, adding an Aerosnap tool and including support for HTML 5 to the browser.
