Internet Explorer Users Have Lower IQs Than Users Of Other Browsers, Survey Finds (UPDATE)

UPDATE: The BBC is reporting that the survey appears to be a hoax, and the AptiQuant website only recently set up. We have reached out to AptiQuant for comment.

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PREVIOUSLY: Are users of Internet Explorer the dumbest on the Internet?

Findings from a survey conducted by Vancouver consulting firm AptiQuant suggest just that. The company gave IQ tests to over 100,000 people, found randomly through user searches and targeted advertising; the test-takers did not know they were being judged based on what browser they were using.

Though no significant differences were found across the IQs of Chrome, Firefox, and Safari users, the study did find that “subjects using any version of Internet Explorer ranked significantly lower on average than others.” Ouch.

Here is the damning chart:

A few things to note here. First, Internet Explorer users--especially those who have not upgraded to the speedier IE9--rank lower than their fellow Chrome, Firefox, and brainiac Opera web surfers. Is there a correlation between not updating your browser and intelligence? AptiQuant thinks so: “From the test results, it is a clear indication that individuals on the lower side of the IQ scale tend to resist a change/upgrade of their browsers.”

I would submit that some who haven’t upgraded aren’t “resisting,” but rather don’t know that it is an option; whatever the reason, those using older versions of IE do rank lower on the IQ scale.

Second, what’s gotten into Opera users? After barely cracking the median 100-point IQ barrier in 2006, Opera-goers now have the highest IQs amongst all web surfers. Opera is the worldwide leader in mobile web browsing, though it lags far behind Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari in web browsing, according to an August 1 report by web tracking service NetMarketShare. Opera saw about 1.5% market share of worldwide usage, while Internet Explorer led the way with over 50%.

In response to the findings, offended Internet Explorer users have apparently sent hate mail to AptiQuant CEO Leonard Howard and threatened the company with a lawsuit. Even if IE users may be a bit dumber on average, at least some of them know how to email and litigate.

"I just want to make it clear that the report released by my company did not suggest that if you use IE that means you have a low IQ, but what it really says is that if you have a low IQ then there are high chances that you use Internet Explorer," Howard said in a statement released by AptiQuant.

A spokesperson for Microsoft declined to comment, and an AptiQuant rep did not respond to a similar request. Disclosure: This report was filed in Google Chrome.

Comments

[Victor Stanescu]

09:32 AM on 09/13/2011

Even if the study was proven to be a hoax, it makes perfect sense to me, and I completely agree with it!

If you are using IE6 you must be a moron: http://www.vectorash.ro/internet-explorer-users-have-low-iq/

[Calculator]

12:38 PM on 08/05/2011

Some people will really believe anything.

[John Von Rader]

11:32 AM on 08/03/2011

You idiots who bought this hoax? I LOL at you.

[Sky Tripp]

10:03 AM on 08/03/2011

i agree 1 million percent dumb people use IE...........

[CPAwADD]

09:22 AM on 08/03/2011

People who use internet explorer for a browser are also likely to like the little cup holder marked DVD.

[GOPtakesEllisDee]

07:47 AM on 08/03/2011

Chrome + AdBlock... although the new FireFox is really fast.

[SocialSciMedley]

05:21 AM on 08/03/2011

looks like my IQ is steadily increasing. I switch to Firefox a couple of years ago because all the smart people online told me to. Now I'm using Chrome....lol I guess I'll be using Safari in the future.

[SocialSciMedley]

05:31 AM on 08/03/2011

arrggh...I meant to say switched....

[bella 201123]

04:03 AM on 08/03/2011

I don’t like ie, but I use avant browser which is based on Ie engine. Stable, fast, easy to use.
It is a joke.Don't be too serious

[themop123]

03:06 AM on 08/03/2011

I think people who use the other browsers are less intelligent in the sense of understanding the market dominance that Windows has and its corralation to using a browser that is likely to have continued functionality because of the nature of Microsofts overall market postion and the high probability that the company as a whole will be around far longer than the producers of those other browswers. So I think intuitively that less intelligent users are making a common sense decision and that the "intelligent' users are trying to distinquish themselves intellectually by making a sort of pedantic type decision which is similiar to how they excell on IQ tests in which the incentives to score higher share very little corralation to a real world practical use. So in a sense it's just another form of ego masturbation similiar to what advanced mathmatics is. It's like a parlor trick that is used by people who tend to have inherently impractical real world survival skills in the context of economics. A truly smart person ignores parlor tricks intentionally and the smart people amoung the users of internet explorer are the smartest of them all.

[AnonK9]

06:12 AM on 08/03/2011

1/10 for effort...

[lomamonster]

01:26 AM on 08/03/2011

Internet Deplorer 9, no doubt!

[sdmartintc]

05:56 PM on 08/02/2011

I don't know a single techie geek type who still uses Internet Exploder. As a techie geek type myself, I use Firefox 5, Google Chrome, and Opera.

[m66]

04:41 PM on 08/02/2011

HuffPost thinks filing litigation and sending hate mail are signs of intelligence. That's so cute.

[John Crane]

03:39 PM on 08/02/2011

What was the point of this study other than getting a lot of people riled up?

[m66]

04:43 PM on 08/02/2011

Something along the lines of, "upgrade your browser, stupid."

[NerdyStudent]

02:07 PM on 08/02/2011

I think IE9 works just fine on my mobile.

-Poli Sci M.A.
-Socialist, environmentalist, Cardinals fan, LGBT member, vegetarian.
-definitely not a TP member.

-Good Day.

[DaverDiver]

04:44 PM on 08/03/2011

You had me until Cardinals fan. Of course, I am just jealous. Being a Cubs fan means we are always winning next year while the Cardinals are always winning this year. Personally I use FireFox for the most part. Every once in a while I will use IE9 and I agree it works just fine. I think most techies are hung up on Microsoft being the evil empire and then the fact IE is the most hacked browser.

[PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS]

01:54 PM on 08/02/2011

Yet another of the concentrated in concert effort of tech companies to make users feel that unless they abandon perfectly good operating devices to purchase newer more expensive units they are somewhat inferior to their peers.....................

I have a number of devices to access the internets, I make purchases as MY needs change not to conform to what the sellers of devices dictate that I "need" based on their need to increase their sales............

Guess what? At my business one of the computers I use is an old Dell system using Windows '98 **GASP** and it still does its chores perfectly on a daily basis........

[sensimilla]

03:32 PM on 08/02/2011

msie was never a "perfectly good operating device", and is only now becoming somewhat secure.

[sensimilla]

03:33 PM on 08/02/2011

good for you, i can bet that most of my activities would not run well on your win98 box. I notice you said "one of the computers I use". What are the others?

[PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS]

09:06 AM on 08/03/2011

I have others for business use and personal use that I have purchased as I needed the need for different applications such as video interfaces. However far too many people will run out and purchase a new unit simply because the may made an insignificant increase in a component of the OS which many feel they simply have to have for the sake of saying they have it.....The manufacturers play into this big time,.............