Google will launch Chrome for ARM64 Linux devices in Q2 2026, following the successful expansion of Chrome to Arm-powered macOS devices in 2020 and Arm-powered Windows devices in 2024.. Google is partnering with NVIDIA to make it easier for DGX Spark users to install Chrome.
Will also be useful in isolated Debian Linux pKVM Arm VM with accelerated vGPU, in Android-ChromeOS converged desktop on Qualcomm Arm laptops.
Sure, and when I worked at Google on Chromecast there was also that build of Chromium.
All of that is very different from The G actually providing a packaged official Chrome build, though. Which for some reason they couldn't be bothered to do before (Firefox exists though)
I have been waiting... so many years for this. Like, I figured it would never come. So happy to be wrong. Wonder if it will work well on Raspberry Pi and also if it will come with Hardware Video Acceleration out of the box.
Me too. Trying to get Chrome to run in Docker on an ARM Mac was a battle that I didn't win (I didn't want to fight the battle to start with but I had to use a Mac rather than Linux).
I would have more faith in Raspberry Pi's own patched build of Chromium to do hardware acceleration properly on the Pi than I would have in Google's generic Chrome build.
Chrome had no official arm64 build. There are distro specific builds from debian, fedora etc for arm64 chromium, but google had no official arm64 build.
There were actually some paid services that provided a distro-agnostic chromium arm64 builds mostly targeting people running puppeteer on AWS ARM lambda. You can see some discussion here https://github.com/alixaxel/chrome-aws-lambda/issues/241
The reason they didn't release Chrome for arm64 Linux almost certainly wasn't about technical feasibility, but rather about it being worth the support costs.
The android arm64 Chrome build is clearly worth it to them, as was the Chrome build for ARM Chromebooks.
Before this point they probably didn't think that arm64 Linux was a worthwhile target to support (especially since Chromium was available on arm64 Linux anyways).
I'm not sure what has changed in the desktop/laptop ARM Linux market that changed their minds - or maybe they want to put their shoulder behind that market.
This is "just" about providing the official Chrome binary to ARM64 "desktop" Linux.
You've been able to build and run Chromium on ARM Linux for a long time (I'm running it right now), it's just that they haven't provided an officially branded Chrome.
This is a good thing. While Chromium works well, there are a few things (like syncing) that is a bit of a pain to set up.
they probably meant desktop. i do browser test automation (selenium, vibium), and the lack of google chrome on arm64 trips up new users frequently. the workaround is to just use chromium, but that's a confusing extra step for some if it's not automated and hidden for you.
on that note, it would have been nice if they also clarified if this means they'll be shipping an official "chrome for testing" for arm64 linux, too.
What is necessary to run Linux ARM64 binaries on Android ARM64?
To run conda-forge arm64 Linux binaries on Android in termux requires proot-distro because the ABIs are slightly different FWIU.
What is necessary to run Android ARM64 binaries on Linux ARM64?
Android Studio, LineageOS or BlissOS's outdated Android containers, a runtime like vinegarhq/sober that emulates just enough of Android.
An Android binary that makes Linux compatible syscalls only (that doesn't require Android libraries that aren't compiled for Linux) won't work will it?
I recently switched to using an NVIDIA Spark as my primary workstation and lack of Chrome binaries for it are what finally pushed me to completely sever my relationship with Chrome and switch to Firefox.
Android desktop mode: https://x.com/sahajsarup/status/2031963143082295610
Wait... weren't there many ARM Chromebooks already?
Sure, and when I worked at Google on Chromecast there was also that build of Chromium.
All of that is very different from The G actually providing a packaged official Chrome build, though. Which for some reason they couldn't be bothered to do before (Firefox exists though)
I have been waiting... so many years for this. Like, I figured it would never come. So happy to be wrong. Wonder if it will work well on Raspberry Pi and also if it will come with Hardware Video Acceleration out of the box.
Me too. Trying to get Chrome to run in Docker on an ARM Mac was a battle that I didn't win (I didn't want to fight the battle to start with but I had to use a Mac rather than Linux).
I would have more faith in Raspberry Pi's own patched build of Chromium to do hardware acceleration properly on the Pi than I would have in Google's generic Chrome build.
Looking forward to no longer having to patch glibc on my Linux phone just so I can watch YouTube or use Spotify.
Wait what, how is glibc patching related to YouTube and Spotify? Could you not watch YouTube using an arm64 build of Chromium or Firefox?
Curious; given that ARM Chromebooks are nothing new, I'm surprised that it took them this long to ship it to other Linux distros.
Chrome had no official arm64 build. There are distro specific builds from debian, fedora etc for arm64 chromium, but google had no official arm64 build.
There were actually some paid services that provided a distro-agnostic chromium arm64 builds mostly targeting people running puppeteer on AWS ARM lambda. You can see some discussion here https://github.com/alixaxel/chrome-aws-lambda/issues/241
edit: I think I replied to the wrong comment.
I'm confused, how does Chrome work on ARM64 Android phones today?
The reason they didn't release Chrome for arm64 Linux almost certainly wasn't about technical feasibility, but rather about it being worth the support costs.
The android arm64 Chrome build is clearly worth it to them, as was the Chrome build for ARM Chromebooks.
Before this point they probably didn't think that arm64 Linux was a worthwhile target to support (especially since Chromium was available on arm64 Linux anyways).
I'm not sure what has changed in the desktop/laptop ARM Linux market that changed their minds - or maybe they want to put their shoulder behind that market.
This is "just" about providing the official Chrome binary to ARM64 "desktop" Linux.
You've been able to build and run Chromium on ARM Linux for a long time (I'm running it right now), it's just that they haven't provided an officially branded Chrome.
This is a good thing. While Chromium works well, there are a few things (like syncing) that is a bit of a pain to set up.
they probably meant desktop. i do browser test automation (selenium, vibium), and the lack of google chrome on arm64 trips up new users frequently. the workaround is to just use chromium, but that's a confusing extra step for some if it's not automated and hidden for you.
on that note, it would have been nice if they also clarified if this means they'll be shipping an official "chrome for testing" for arm64 linux, too.
The Chromium project builds many things. The Android version is just one of those things.
Maybe Android has its own libc? So they compile it for Android, but not for general Linux.
Also curious about this.
What is necessary to run Linux ARM64 binaries on Android ARM64?
To run conda-forge arm64 Linux binaries on Android in termux requires proot-distro because the ABIs are slightly different FWIU.
What is necessary to run Android ARM64 binaries on Linux ARM64?
Android Studio, LineageOS or BlissOS's outdated Android containers, a runtime like vinegarhq/sober that emulates just enough of Android.
An Android binary that makes Linux compatible syscalls only (that doesn't require Android libraries that aren't compiled for Linux) won't work will it?
a lot of people seem to not understand what used to go into running chrome on arm64 devices, this blog goes over it pretty well
https://www.da.vidbuchanan.co.uk/blog/netflix-on-asahi.html
Cool. Let’s release Android NDK for Linux arm64 host, too.
I recently switched to using an NVIDIA Spark as my primary workstation and lack of Chrome binaries for it are what finally pushed me to completely sever my relationship with Chrome and switch to Firefox.
Sorry, Google. Too late!
(Bonus: ad blocking properly works).
What is it like using a Spark as a workstation?
Nope. Make uBlock Origin work properly again, or gtfo of the browser market.