Microsoft engineers are actively contributing to the development of Chrome for Windows 10 on ARM. 9to5Google this week spotted a series of commits to the Chromium codebase from a pair of Microsoft software engineers, showing that the company is working hand-in-hand with Chromium and Google developers on the project.
We first caught wind in October that a native ARM version of Chrome for Windows laptops was in the works, following confirmation from a Qualcomm exec. At the time, it was unclear who was heading the charge, but it appears Microsoft is at least partially involved in development.
Any movement towards launching an ARM variant for Windows 10 laptops running on Snapdragon processors would be a big win for Microsoft. Despite the company's best efforts to get people using Edge, Chrome remains the most popular browser on the market.
While Chrome can run on Snapdragon laptops right now, it does so through emulation, which hinders performance. A native version for ARM PCs would boost the browser's performance, removing a potential roadblock for anyone looking to make the switch to a Snapdragon-powered PC.
However, as The Verge points out, Microsoft will have to relax its store policies if Chrome is to eventually make its way to the Microsoft Store. Currently, browsers submitted to the Store are required to use Microsoft's Edge rendering engine.
