Google: tabs load 10% faster on Chrome 85, tab groups coming soon

Google is detailing a number of improvements and new features that will be included in the latest release of its Chrome web browser -- especially for people like me, who have 100+ tabs open at once.

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The new improvements are coming thanks to the influx of people working from home over the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing Google to push a little harder in software-enabled productivity.

Alex Ainslie, Chrome's Director of UX explained in a blog post: "These days, people are spending a lot of time in their browsers to get things done, whether for work, school or something else. And while some write out a formal to-do list to keep track of tasks, for others, their to-do list is their tabs in Chrome. However you get things done, we want Chrome to help you be more productive".

One of the best benefits of Chrome 85, is that Google has made some performance improvements that have your browser tabs opening faster than ever before. These new improvements include Profile Guided Optimization and Tab Throttling.

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Ainslie continued: "From the very beginning, we built Chrome to be the fastest browser possible. The faster Chrome is, the faster you find the information you want or finish the task you need to do. With M85, users will find a noticeably faster Chrome, thanks to our two latest improvements: Profile Guided Optimization, which delivers up to 10% faster page loads; and Tab Throttling, which helps reduce the impact of idle background tabs, coming to the Beta channel".

Some of the new features will include:

• Touch-friendly tabs for tablet mode
• Switch to an already-open tab (for Android)
• Find your tab faster with tab previews (thumbnail preview of the page)
• Fill out and save PDFs in Chrome
• Easier URL sharing (for Android)

Chrome 85 is being made available for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux.