14 DAY TRIAL // One of the benefits of Microsoft’s transition to Chromium is that Google itself has become more interested in bringing its apps and services to Windows 10.
And Windows 10 ARM as a platform is likely to get several improvements only thanks to this, as Microsoft worked together with Google engineers to prepare the Chromium engine for ARM-based devices.
Earlier this week, developers managed to get Google Chrome up and running on Windows 10 ARM, which in turn made it possible to install the browser on Windows phones powered by this OS version too.
With Edge preview finally becoming available for download, Microsoft confirms that Chromium on Windows 10 ARM is something the company has been working on and further announcements on this should follow later this year.
“We’ve been collaborating with Google engineers to enable Chromium to run natively on Windows on ARM devices starting with Chromium 73. With these contributions, Chromium-based browsers will soon be able to ship native implementations for ARM-based Windows 10 PCs, significantly improving their performance and battery life,” the Microsoft Edge team announced.
Touch support in Chromium
Additionally, Microsoft says it was focused specifically on optimizing the browser for Windows 10 devices, and adding touch support was a priority given this input method is a key part of the experience with the operating system.
“To help our customers with touch devices get the best possible experience, we’ve implemented better support for Windows touch keyboard in Chromium, now supporting touch text suggestions as you type and “shape writing” that lets you type by swiping over keys without releasing your finger,” it says.
There is no ETA available right now as to when Chromium browsers would land on Windows 10 ARM, but both Google and Microsoft could be working on such versions of their browsers. Most likely, additional details would be shared at the Build developer conference next month.