The Next Google Chrome Update Could Be Here Soon, With A Long Overdue Feature

Over the years, as Google Chrome has climbed the ladder to become the most popular web browser around, it's received many features, speed optimizations, and quality-of-life updates. Currently, Chrome and its open-source Chromium underpinnings are both on release version 109, which didn't really bring any big changes for the everyday user. The next release candidate, 110, is a different story entirely. 

Being the top dog in the web browser world, it's perhaps appropriate that Google Chrome is the subject of memes thanks to its high memory consumption. The fact of the matter is that Google Chrome does consume a lot of memory, but so does every other desktop browser. If you look at real-world testing of the most popular desktop browsers, like the tests done by DeviceTests, you'll almost always find Microsoft Edge on top with Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome basically tied for second place. There's a reason for this, though — performance. If you want a browser to perform well, it needs to use system resources. Microsoft Edge, although built on the same Chromium bones as Google Chrome, has features to mitigate high resource usage, which is beneficial for people who don't have vast amounts of RAM or CPU power or users who simply like to have multiple tabs and programs open at the same time. 

The Chrome development team has apparently, finally caught on, and is doing something to address Chrome's memory-hungry habits in Chrome 110. 

According to a Chrome Developers blog post, Google is planning a limited release of Chrome 110 a week early — releasing an Early Stable version on February 1, 2023, instead of February 7, 2023, when the wider Stable release is set to drop. The reason Google has decided to do a limited or staggered rollout is that it's testing a number of new features. 

One of the most important features coming in Chrome 110 is a wider release of Memory Saver Mode, which entered beta testing on December 8, 2022. Google claims that Memory Saver mode will keep your computer running smoothly while using 40% less memory when the feature is active. Chrome will do this by putting inactive tabs to sleep to free up memory for active tabs and other programs. When you return to the inactive tab, Chrome will automatically restore any deactivated parts of the page. 

Alongside Memory Saver Mode, Chrome is also introducing a battery saver mode, which limits background processes and visual effects when your device battery dips below 20%. Just how well these two new performance settings work and how stable they will remain to be seen, and that's why Chrome 110's Early Stable version will be rolling out early to a limited number of users. This will allow Chrome to test the feature on a larger sample size while limiting the impact of any potentially unstable features.