Chrome challenges Firefox, may become No. 2 browser

Mozilla's Firefox browser has lost more than 11 percent of its user share in the last two months, giving Google's Chrome another shot at replacing it as the world's No. 2 browser, according to new data.

Statistics from Web measurement company Net Applications illustrated a rapid decline in Firefox and a corresponding upswing in Chrome during June and July.

At the end of July, Firefox owned a 18.3 percent share of all desktop browsers, down 2.3 percentage points in just two months, a decline of about 11 percent. Meanwhile, Chrome's user share stood at 17.8 percent, up 2 points since May and its highest mark since October 2012.

The half-percentage-point gap between Firefox and Chrome was the smallest since May 2012, when it appeared certain that the latter would overtake Firefox to become the No. 2 browser behind Microsoft's Internet Explorer.