The days of the stock Android browser are now almost over. With Google releasing Chrome for Android on the Intel platform, the company is now poised to make Chrome ubiquitous across all Android devices. It’s now obvious that barring Gingerbread and older devices, phones with Android Ice Cream Sandwich and above are all expected to support the browser, which has now been made default since the release of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The recent release for Intel’s x86 devices has sealed the deal for Chrome and demonstrated Google’s enthusiasm to integrate Chrome into the core Android experience.
This clearly points to Google’s plan to slowly phase out the stock Android browser in the favour of Chrome. Chrome for Android is expected to be faster than the former and also provides features such as tabs and bookmarks synchronisation with its desktop counterpart. This move will obviously improve the popularity of its desktop browser which already has a majority of the market share according to most surveys.
The update is also expected to bring a relief to those waiting for the Intel based Motorola Razr is due to be released next month as the phone was not expected to support Chrome earlier. Other Intel-based Android devices running Android 4.0 or above will now be able to enjoy the Chrome experience by installing the browser from the Play Store. It is worth mentioning that though Intel-based Android phones might be able to run most other apps without any recompilation, some apps that closely interact with the hardware might need to make changes.
