“The competition between Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) represents the modern “Browser Wars”. The market completely inverted over a fifteen-year span, shifting from a Microsoft monopoly to Google dominance, with Firefox acting as the catalyst that originally broke IE’s hold.The structural trajectory of their shifting market shares unfolds through distinct historical phases. The standard metrics from StatCounter and historical web tracking identify four clear eras of browser dominance:

  1. 2004–2008: IE Monopoly
  2. 2009–2012: The Rise of Firefox
  3. 2012–2015: Chrome Overtakes
  4. 2016–Present: Chrome Dominance”

(Gemini Analyzing the “Big Three” Historical Shifts)