Microsoft teases Chromium-based Edge browser for macOS
Roger Fingas
At the start of its Build developer conference on Monday, Microsoft offered a fleeting glimpse at the macOS version of Edge, a browser once exclusive to Windows 10.
The first Dev- and Canary-channel builds are coming "soon," Microsoft said in a blog post. No narrower dates are available, whether for early or finished software.
Microsoft is migrating Edge as a whole over to Chromium, an open-source platform best known for undergirding Google Chrome. That should make Edge easier to develop for, including by third parties.
While Edge is integrated into Windows 10, it controls just 4.49 percent of the desktop browser market, according to NetMarketShare data. Chrome is far and away the leader at 65.81 percent. Even Internet Explorer, Edge's predecessor, enjoys a better share at 9.52 percent. Apple's Mac-only Safari is at 3.69.
Some potential features in Edge for Mac include a new privacy dashboard with per-site customization, and Collections, which will let people gather related content for later sharing, browsing, or publishing to apps like Word and Excel. Neither feature has been set in stone for macOS or even Windows.
Edge already has a presence on iPhones and iPads.
Mike Wuerthele
Malcolm Owen
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30 Comments
Why?
I'm good, thanks.
I haven’t used the Edge browser for Windows, but I haven’t heard good things about it, either. What’s telling to me is that any site that lists browser requirements lists Internet Explorer, if it lists a Microsoft browser at all.
So it won’t be Edge. It’ll be Chrome, but branded Microsoft. Is that because their Windows 64-bit API Edge browser is unportable? Why would I want this, as a Mac user?