Brave browser gets unofficial ARM64 support for Surface Pro X

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Windows 10 on ARM may soon have a third native browser optimized for performance.

Brave Browser Arm64
Brave Browser Arm64 (Image credit: Daniel Rubino/Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Privacy-based Brave browser has been recompiled for ARM64
  • Though unofficial the work is being passed on to the Brave team.
  • Windows 10 on ARM could soon have a third native web browser.

One of the neat things about browsers based on the open-source Chromium project is anyone – with the right skills and time – can recompile a browser. That's the case with Window MVP developer Jeremy Sinclair who has effectively merged Microsoft's ARM64 Chromium libraries with Brave.

For a refresher, Brave is one of the latest Chromium-based browsers to hit the market. Launching officially in November 2019 (see our review) the team behind Brave is focused heavily on privacy and security. Brave has built-in ad and tracking prevention and other features that make it attractive to those who prefer something familiar but different.

Sinclair recompiled Brave (version 1.6.33) with ARM64 libraries so that it can run natively on Windows 10 on ARM PCs like the new Surface Pro X. Sinclair shared the files with us, and indeed, it not only runs but is exceptionally fast too.

While this build of Brave is not yet for the public, the good news is Sinclair is passing on his work to the Brave team. Considering most of the work is now done, there is a good chance an official version could be made available in the foreseeable future. We'll, of course, keep following the story.

For now, there is still Microsoft's new Edge browser compiled for ARM64 and even Firefox has a version in testing. Ironically, Google itself has still not budged on making a version for ARM64 despite having the code available.

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.