Microsoft is set to retire its once dominant web browser Internet Explorer, as the software giant looks to move its focus to its newer Edge browser.

The browser will no longer appear as part of consumer versions of Windows 10 after 15 June 2022, ending 26 years of operation.

Launched in 1995, bundled as part of Windows 1995, the browser’s market share gradually shrank to around 1.68 per cent as of April 2021, a steep decline from the 90 per cent market share the product enjoyed between 2000 to 2005.

Internet Explorer killed off its competitor Netscape's Navigator, the most popular web browser of the mid-1990’s, as part of the “browser war” of the late 1990’s.

Microsoft Edge was launched in 2015 to coincide with the launch of Windows 10.

In 2013, Microsoft was fined €561 million by the EU as part of antitrust allegations, which accused the company of failing to promote any alternatives to Internet Explorer, following complaints from Opera, a Norwegian web-browser developer.

Google Chrome currently leads the worldwide browser market with a 65 per cent share, followed by Apple’s Safari which has an 18 per cent market share.

"We are announcing that the future of Internet Explorer on Windows 10 is in Microsoft Edge," said Sean Lyndersay, Microsoft's program manager for Edge. "Not only is Microsoft Edge a faster, more secure and more modern browsing experience than Internet Explorer, but it is also able to address a key concern: compatibility for older, legacy websites and applications."

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