What you need to know
- Google looks to finally be bringing native Arm64 support to Chrome on Windows.
- Users can test it now with the latest Google Chrome Canary build.
- Chrome has supported Arm on a number of other platforms for years, including Linux and Mac.
After famously snubbing Windows on Arm for several years, Google looks to finally be bringing native Arm support to Chrome on Windows. The latest Chrome Canary build released today finally supports the Arm64 architecture, and can be installed without emulation on the latest versions of Windows with Arm processors.
Chromium itself has supported the Arm64 architecture for a number of years, and Google Chrome has been available for Arm on pretty much all platforms bar Windows, up until now. It’s unclear why it took Google so long to release the Arm version of Chrome for Windows.
With Chrome coming to Windows on Arm, the world’s most popular browser will no longer be at a performance disadvantage when running on a PC with an Arm processor. So far, the only Windows on Arm PCs on the market are ones powered by Qualcomm processors, the latest being the Snapdragon 8cx Gen3.
All eyes are on Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon X Elite chip, which is said to be the Apple M-series competitor the PC has been waiting for. Hopefully, Arm64 support in Chrome will have made its way to the stable channel by the time Snapdragon X Series computers begin shipping, which is expected to start in June.
For those with a Windows on Arm PC today, you can download the latest Chrome Canary build now to test Google Chrome running natively on Arm. Of course, both Firefox and Edge have been natively available for Arm on Windows for a number of years, so Google really is playing catch up here.
