Software· United States · 2026
A public-interest profile for showing where market power is measurable, where public data is missing, and what government should require next.
Structure snapshot
Concentration on the HHI scale
Chrome alone holds 50% of this market. That makes it highly concentrated on the HHI scale — past the 2,500 line of the 2010 merger guidelines, and well past the 1,800 line the agencies' 2023 Merger Guidelines use.
Ranks #6 of 12 tracked markets by HHI.
Evidence atlas
Data
2026
Estimated
Packet
38 rows
1 core source
Action
Immediate review
HHI 3,612
Public stake
Software
Concentrated markets turn everyday access into private leverage.
Evidence posture
Estimated
38 reusable rows across 1 core source.
Government duty
Immediate review
Test whether the dominant firm controls access, switching, pricing, defaults, distribution, or other chokepoints that weaken consumer choice.
HHI
3,612
Top firm
50.03%
CR4
93.80%
Data status
Estimated
Confidence
Medium
Review flags
3
Source-backed concentration profile
StatCounter reports April 2026 browser usage shares for the United States.
Observatory market brief
The latest 2026 screen reports HHI 3,612, classified as highly concentrated. Chrome leads the sourced distribution at 50.0%. The four largest named participants account for 93.8%. HHI changed by 52 points from 2023 to 2026, moving from 3,664 to 3,612.
Latest structure
HHI 3,612The latest 2026 screen reports HHI 3,612, classified as highly concentrated. Chrome leads the sourced distribution at 50.0%. The four largest named participants account for 93.8%.
Published change
-52 HHIHHI changed by 52 points from 2023 to 2026, moving from 3,664 to 3,612.
Evidence custody
3 custody records3 records in the evidence custody chain, 7 latest share rows, 3 linked official records, and 3 related briefs support this profile. Status is estimated public with medium confidence.
Comparison window
HHIHHI points
Public research question
Immediate review
Test whether the dominant firm controls access, switching, pricing, defaults, distribution, or other chokepoints that weaken consumer choice.Open public-action routeMarket-definition contract
This profile’s concentration claims apply only to the product, geography, denominator, and measurement basis documented below.
Product boundary
All-platform browser usage
Geographic boundary
United States
Measurement basis
StatCounter browser page-view usage share
Denominator
Observed U.S. browser usage in each reported monthly snapshot
Included
Named browsers and a residual Other category that closes the public share table to 100 percent
Excluded
Unique browser users, browser revenue, operating-system share, and tying conduct
Cross-market use
Screen only
Time-series use
Comparable anchors
Method note
Compute HHI from the same StatCounter all-platform U.S. browser usage-share series and retain the residual Other category.
Page-view usage is a public web-analytics proxy rather than a count of browser users or a revenue measure.
Boundary source
Browser market share in United States of America, April 2023-April 2026
StatCounter Global Stats · accessed 2026-07-17
Declared economy screen / navigation only
NAICS 513210 / Software publishers
2022 national industry HHI withheld; this does not redefine or validate the market above.
Comparison guardrail
The same 0-10,000 HHI scale does not make different product, geographic, or denominator definitions economically interchangeable. Cross-market HHI is a descriptive screen only.
Evidence timeline
Each profile should read like an inspectable research route: source access, concentration metric, participant table, official policy chronology, briefing, and the government question it creates.
Full route
Metrics, sources, reports, and action posture.
18
Events
43
Rows
3
Sources
0
Gaps
Latest evidence: Research brief · Five Digital Gateways
Full route packet
Profile, metrics, participant rows, sources, and reports for the selected market.
Peer comparison atlas
Strong public profiles are navigable. This view connects the current market to sector peers, concentration peers, and disclosure-gap peers using the public metrics already in the observatory. Node size follows published HHI; withheld HHI uses the smallest marker.
All peers: Show every selected peer route.
Comparison readout
5
Compared
0
Same sector
0
Data gaps
4,250
Avg peer HHI
Peer profiles
Current market
3,612
HHI
50.0%
Top
93.8%
CR4
United States · 2026 · StatCounter Global Stats
Chrome
50.03% share · rank 1 · Estimated from public data · medium confidence
StatCounter Global Stats
Tile area is proportional to each firm’s sourced market share. Hatched tiles are aggregate or residual categories, shown for coverage and excluded from firm-level screens.
Longitudinal evidence
Inspect sourced concentration releases and comparable share anchors without interpolating between public observations.
HHI anchors
4
discrete public releases
Firm snapshots
4
comparable share years
Observation span
2023-2026
4 public years
Data sources
1
unique linked records
Concentration releases
Each bar is a sourced release. Missing years remain missing rather than being drawn as a continuous trend.
Selected release
United States
HHI
3,612
Prior anchor
-108
Leading firm
Chrome
Share coverage
100.0%
Usage share is a public web-analytics proxy.
Keep HHI, firm shares, trend, and evidence quality separate so researchers can inspect why this market is routed for review.
Immediate review
Medium confidence
3 visible
Review posture uses published concentration thresholds, trend direction, and evidence status as separate signals. It does not estimate consumer harm or establish legal liability.
Test whether the dominant firm controls access, switching, pricing, defaults, distribution, or other chokepoints that weaken consumer choice.
Agency-ready source trail and market-definition caveats
Methodology: Compute HHI from listed shares and a residual Other category equal to 100 minus listed shares; label as estimated from public data.
Limitations: Usage share is a public web-analytics proxy.
StatCounter Global Stats
StatCounter Global Stats, Browser Market Share in United States Of America, monthly CSV export for April 2023-April 2026.
Browsers (United States, 2026): HHI 3,612; CR4 93.8%; top-firm share 50.0%; estimated public data; medium confidence; action posture: Immediate review.
Test whether the dominant firm controls access, switching, pricing, defaults, distribution, or other chokepoints that weaken consumer choice.
A compact audit of whether the profile has enough public evidence to support action.
Source mix
1 sources
Hardening watch
Jump from this market profile to the filtered machine-readable rows behind the public claim.
This profile relies on public records and clearly labeled limitations.
View all sourcesCompute HHI from listed shares and a residual Other category equal to 100 minus listed shares; label as estimated from public data.
Read the full methodologyOther tracked markets — Software first, then the most concentrated.