One of the slides from Microsoft’s Ignite session video reveals that the company plans to unify the desktop, Android, and iOS versions of Edge later this year. Microsoft has been steadily improving its Chromium-based Edge browser with new features and updates that have pushed the browser to version 62.
Microsoft Working on Unifying Edge Codebase on All Platforms
A single shared codebase for Edge will help developers speed up development and reach feature parity with Chrome. The new browser will also follow Google Chrome’s best practices, and enterprise customers will be able to apply their policies across desktop and mobile versions. The unified codebase will help improve performance on Android and iOS devices, and make Edge more powerful overall.
Currently, the Edge browser runs on Webkit, while the Edge mobile browser runs on its own codebase, making the features built for Edge mobile different from those for desktop. However, Microsoft is working on a common codebase for all Edge browsers to make the browser even faster on mobile platforms. In the near future, the new browser will be available in beta on Apple Test Flight and Google Play.
Microsoft has released several updates to the Edge browser on various platforms. Most recently, the desktop version of Edge was updated to version 89. With this update, the browser brought improvements such as vertical tabs and better resource management. In addition, Edge is now compatible with Android 5.0 and newer devices. Users will receive the updated version of the browser soon after it becomes available on their platform.
Microsoft has also worked on adding features to Edge for Android. The new version has a built-in option to share web pages, save screenshots, and block ads. Another feature is the ability to translate web pages in more than 60 languages. The personal translator feature will allow users to choose their preferred languages based on their own preferences.