The Mozilla team has released an update to Firefox that will run natively on Apple’s new M1-powered Mac machines. This will offer greater performance, improved battery life, and a better user experience.
Oh and Microsoft has beaten Apple to the punch with Firefox. Yes, it’s a welcome return to the Browser Wars; except this time the ring is all about the new ARM platforms
CRACOW, POLAND - 2020/12/01: In this photo illustration a 13inch Macbook pro seen displayed on a ... [+]
One of the interesting points of this news is that, for once, it is Apple’s ARM-based system that is playing catch up. Windows 10 on ARM saw a beta of Firefox in April 2019, very early in the public life of the project. Anyone heading to the Firefox download page on devices such as the Surface Pro X will seamlessly pick up the ARM version of the popular browser,
This back and forwards, with tiny wins shared between Windows 10 on ARM and macOS Big Sur running on ARM, is far better than just one of the deskbound platforms running on ARM. It will create competition, each platform will lift the other, and the winners will ultimately be the consumers.
Next up will be Chrome. Google released a version of its browser for the M1-powered Macs on the 18th Novembe, and right now there is no version for Windows 10 on ARM. And that’s… curious. Hadlee Simmons reports:
“The code is done. This is not a technical issue,” the company said in response to a question from Android Authority, noting that the most recent iteration of Microsoft Edge uses the Chromium engine which powers Chrome.
“...There’s nothing really preventing them from doing it, just they haven’t done it yet,” a representative explained. “In fact, we’ve had it all working, it works fine. It’s just (a matter of) them making it publicly available.”"
Those who are looking for a Chrome hit should look at the Chromium Project, which is offering regular builds for Windows 10 on ARM (although it is not built with the Google APIs), and of course Microsoft’s ARM version of its Edge browser is based on Chromium.
And just like that, everything old is new again. We’re back in the middle of a browser war on the desktop, with multiple partners and products all at different levels. Which should mean more innovation and better apps for all in 2021 and beyond.
Now read more about a beloved feature returning to the next Surface Pro...
