Google has quietly been working on a new version of its popular Chrome web browser designed specifically for Windows devices powered by Arm processors. An early test version of this native Arm64 build of Chrome was recently spotted in the Canary channel by a X/Twitter user, signaling Google’s progress towards better support for Windows on Arm hardware.

Windows on Arm is Microsoft’s project to bring its operating system to Arm-based chips, like those found in most smartphones and tablets. Several PC makers have released Windows laptops and 2-in-1 devices containing Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon processors. However, app support and compatibility have remained issues for the platform. Apps originally targetting traditional x86 chips like those from Intel need to be recompiled for Arm’s RISC architecture.

Browsers are a major pain point currently. Microsoft quickly delivered a native Arm64 build of its own Edge browser, allowing generally solid performance. But Google’s market-leading Chrome has remained 32-bit x86 only. While Chrome still runs on Windows on Arm, it does so through an emulation layer which hampers speeds considerably. This has led to complaints of laggy browsing experiences on otherwise capable Qualcomm-powered hardware.

The addition of an official native Arm version of Chrome could significantly improve browser performance and compatibility for Windows on Arm users. It would also make the experience far more consistent coming from Google’s own Chromebooks which utilize similar Arm chips.

As of now, details remain limited regarding Google’s plans. The appearance of a Canary build indicates it is still early and functionality may be incomplete. There has been no announcement regarding when or even if the new Arm flavor of Chrome will reach the stable branch. However, given the growing adoption of Qualcomm Snapdragon Windows devices from brands like Lenovo, Google ramping up Arm support makes strategic sense for both maintaining Chrome’s market lead as well as strengthening its cross-platform offerings.