As the full figures are being sifted through from 2011, it seems that Chrome may well have been prematurely announced as the market leader.

Firefox, the strongest competitor to Google’s Chrome browser, has apparently been more resilient at holding on to its market share despite the rising popularity of Chrome’s fast and simplistic software. The news won’t hit Google too hard though, as Android’s Robot has just edged out Opera as the most-used mobile-browser. Opera has around 200 million users worldwide, benefitting from being a default on a range of handsets, driving up traffic and keeping them on top for several quarters. Now, however, it seems that the exponential growth in Android devices has finally caught up with the stats.

Internet Explorer has been suffering from falling user numbers for some time, though with the big push this year for Windows Phone we should see some changes across the rest of 2012. Mobile Chrome has recently emerged on the app market which could really spice up the competition, though this is currently only compatible with the latest Android OS.

Whoever gets the majority share of the mobile browser market possess a powerful platform from which to generate massive ad revenue. The fight doesn’t end, all that matters is who can stay on top for the longest.

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