TECH

Chrome for Android upgrades to 64-bit in its latest few versions

Android has been a 64-bit OS for some time now. However, this transition has not resulted in a wholesale switch to the same in all apps. Nevertheless, Chrome has finally shown signs of migrating to this platform, starting with its newest Dev and Canary versions.
Android had adopted a 64-bit architecture on migrating from its KitKat (4.4.4) to its Lollipop (5.0) versions. However, developers were still free to leave their apps at 32-bit at will. This led to compatibility and integrity issues in some cases, of which Chrome was possibly the most prevalent. However, Google has finally addressed this in the latest advance versions of the mobile browser.
Android Police has observed that the freshest forms of the app's Dev and Canary variants (builds numbered 85 and 86 respectively) have gone 64-bit. However, their immediate predecessors, 83 and 84 (also termed Chrome Stable and Beta, and thus the most likely to be run by the general population of app-users) remained 32-bit for the blog.There are many advantages to the platform adhered to in the newer builds, however. They include potentially improved security and performance: for example, the blog breaking this story has noted that Chrome for Android 85 achieves "consistently" improved scores in Octane 2.0 benchmark scores compared to 83.







Hopefully, these changes will take effect in subsequent Stable builds soon. Then again, they are reportedly only available on devices running Android 10 (or later, even) at this point.

Deirdre O'Donnell