Google Chrome is speeding up its release cycle, again
Google Chrome already releases new major versions every four weeks, delivering new features, web APIs, bug fixes, and critical security fixes. This now changes for each two weeks, and other Chrome-based browsers could follow suit.
Starting in September 2026, Chrome will move to a two-week release cycle, Google confirmed in a blog post today. Chrome has received new major releases every four weeks since 2021, and weekly security patches were added to the mix in 2023. Chrome version 153 will launch on the new schedule on September 8, and after that there will be a new stable and beta build every two weeks. Dev and Canary channels are not affected.
The blog post explains: “The web platform is constantly evolving, and our goal is to ensure developers and users have immediate access to the latest performance improvements, fixes, and new features. Building on our history of adapting our release process to meet the demands of a modern web, Chrome is moving to a two-week release cycle. Although releases will be more frequent, their smaller scope minimizes disruption and simplifies debugging after release.”
Google also assures that Chrome will remain a stable and reliable platform, even with a faster schedule. There is still cause for concern, however: Chrome is not only a widely used web browser, but it is also the operating system for Chromebooks and the primary web rendering engine for Android apps. In 2019, a bug in Chrome 79 caused many Android apps to temporarily lose locally stored data because the apps were using the Chrome-powered WebView system.
It’s important to note that new Chrome updates generally don’t come with visible new features. Google works on new features in Chrome as feature flags, which are then enabled during server-side deployments later, regardless of new versioned releases. For example, a feature might be developed in Chrome 100, 101, and 102, then rolled out to everyone a week after Chrome 102 is released. However, new versions of Chrome typically contain new APIs for websites and web apps, as well as security patches and bug fixes.
There are also no changes to Chrome Extended Stable, the version of Chrome aimed at businesses and other organizations that need more time to manage updates. The Extended Stable browser will still receive new updates every eight weeks, similar to Firefox’s Extended Support Release (ESR) channel.
It’s unclear whether Chrome-based web browsers will follow the same release schedule. Microsoft Edge has remained close to Google’s development cycle, but the browser’s documentation still mentions a 4-week release schedule, and Microsoft has not announced any changes to this. Vivaldi, Opera and a few other forks are already slow to introduce new versions of the Chromium engine into their browsers.
Source: Chrome Developer Blog
