Google has announced a major performance improvement for Chrome on Android. The company has worked for two years to boost the Speedometer score, which measures how quickly the browser interacts with web pages. This includes tasks like parsing HTML, rendering CSS, and running JavaScript.
Since the release of Chrome 112 in April 2023, the Speedometer score for Android has more than doubled on many devices. For example, opening a Google Docs document on a Pixel Tablet now takes over 50% less time compared to before.
One of the biggest changes comes from optimizing Chrome’s build for premium devices, like those with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform. This version of Chrome is now faster, thanks to better ARM64 support and optimized code.
These improvements make use of larger binaries and faster C++ code, which wouldn’t be possible on entry-level devices with smaller memory.
Additionally, Google improved its V8 JavaScript engine and Blink rendering engine. For example, Chrome now uses a faster HTML parser and better garbage collection to reduce performance issues.
Collaboration with Android partners, particularly Qualcomm, also played a role. Optimizing Chrome’s interaction with the operating system and thread scheduling has helped devices like the Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform achieve up to 80% better performance in Speedometer 3.0.
