In the US, analysis by web-tracking specialists StatCounter has found that Google’s Chrome has just passed Apple’s Safari as the third most popular browser across the Atlantic, while it is also continues to gain ground globally.

The gigantic survey of 874 million page views, spanning three million websites from 21-27 June showed that Chrome picked up 8.97% of the page views, while Safari garnered slightly less on 8.88%. Both numbers are dwarfed by the two main players in the US market at present though, with StatCounter estimating that 52% of page views were through Internet Explorer with Firefox on 28.5%.

“This is quite a coup for Google as they have gone from zero to almost 10 percent of the US market in under two years,” said the quite Irish-sounding Aodhan Cullen, chief executive of StatCounter, in a statement. “There is a battle royal going on between Google and Apple in the internet browser space (Chrome v Safari) as well as in the mobile market (Android v iPhone).”

Worldwide figures were also released, which StatCounter measured via 3.6 billion page views for the same period. Notes a report in the TechHerald, “When viewed from a global perspective, Google’s Chrome browser currently holds 9.4% of the market, while Internet Explorer has 53% and Firefox has 31%. Apple’s Safari browser is lagging some way behind with just 4%.”