SAN FRANCISCO - Google Chrome last week unseated Apple Safari for the first time as the third most used Internet browser in the United States, according to figures released Monday by StatCounter.

"This is quite a coup for Google as they have gone from zero to almost 10 percent of the US market in under two years," StatCounter chief executive Aodhan Cullen said in a release.

"There is a battle royal going on between Google and Apple in the Internet browser space (Chrome vs. Safari) as well as in the mobile market (Android vs. iPhone)."

Chrome had 8.97% of the US browser market in the week that ended Sunday, topping Safari's 8.88%, StatCounter reported.

Safari lost an approximately 1.5% lead it had on Chrome two months earlier.

Firefox remained the second most popular with 28.48% of people using the free, open-source browser. Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) reigned supreme with 52% of US Internet users surfing with the software.

Globally, Chrome remained in a solid third place with 9.44% of the browser market and slowly closing the gaps with second-place Firefox, which had slightly more than 31%, and IE with 52.78%.