Microsoft officially launches Chromium-based Edge browser for all platforms

After the lackluster web browsers that Microsoft has recently been responsible for (Internet Explorer and Edge), the company has been hard at work reinventing the latter of the two from the ground up.

Sticking to its release schedule, Microsoft has today officially launched the new Edge browser, complete with updated logo and built entirely on the same Chromium foundation that Google’s popular Chrome browser was constructed on.

Edge is available from Microsoft’s official page and is compatible with macOS, iOS and Android, as well as Windows 10, 8.1, 8, and even Windows 7, which has now officially entered the ‘unsupported’ phase of its life.

Chromium Edge hints at how the web browser will challenge Google Chrome

The cutting edge

Included among the promised features are thorough privacy tools, 4K streaming support, optimization for Windows 10, enterprise-grade security, and support for Chrome extensions that can be accessed from either the Microsoft Store or Chrome Web Store.

Microsoft is also claiming that this new version of Edge is twice as fast as the one it replaces, no doubt thanks to the Chromium platform it runs on, although we’re yet to see how that stacks up against competitors such as Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

Technically this is the 79th stable version of Edge, with Edge 80 set to land in February and regular updates arriving every six weeks from then on.

Windows 10 users will see the new browser pushed to them automatically in the coming weeks, but everyone else can download it manually. Users that have the old version of Edge installed will find the new one will replace it, with most personalized information carrying across.