Google has announced a few new features and improvements coming to the Chrome web browser on Android, iPhone, and iPad. There are a lot of changes to search and the address bar, plus sports scores in the New Tab Page.
First, there are new shortcut buttons that appear when searching for certain locations (like local businesses), giving you quick access to directions, reviews, and the location’s phone number. The buttons are now live in Chrome for Android, and they will be available on iPhone and iPad “later this fall.” Presumably, this only works when Google is set to the default search engine in Chrome, but the announcement didn’t clarify that detail.
There are also new shortcut suggestions in the address bar on Android, iPhone, and iPad, a bit like the search suggestions that rolled out in desktop Chrome earlier this year. Google explained in the blog post, “maybe you usually type in ‘schedules’ to see times for the City Metro because that word is a part of the site’s description. Thanks to this new feature, City Metro will now appear higher up in your search suggestions whenever you search schedules.” The ‘trending searches’ section in search results already available in the Android version is also coming to iPhone and iPad.
Google Chrome now has a redesigned address bar on tablets, more closely matching the company’s Material You design language and taking better advantage of the additional screen space. There’s also a new top menu entry when you tap on the address bar with actions for the current page, like copying or sharing the URL.
Finally, live sports cards are now available in the Discover Feed on the New Tab page on iPhone, iPad, and Android. You’ll see automatic updates for games if you’ve followed the team or “expressed interest” in the game or team in the past (presumably, searching for it or reading articles about it). The Discover Feed already has recommended articles, videos, and other web content, so it’s not surprising to see sports scores also make an appearance. The regular Google app and home screen Discover Feed on Android phones already had similar functionality.
Google Chrome 126 was released on June 5th, 2024, and Chrome 127 is due to arrive on July 17th, 2024. The new mobile features are likely server-side rollouts not related to the version number, but you might need the latest app update to see them.
Source: Google