Smartphones are getting more updates that take away their old limits. As the phones gain more RAM, multi-tasking has become more prominent. Due to this the option for opening two or more apps at the same time has become an essential feature on tablets and new foldable devices. Even then, mobile apps stick to the old “one instance” or “one window” for one app convention. Google is now planning to bring about a change in this tradition. Google is updating Chrome on Android 12 with a feature to have up to five instances of the web browser.
Limit on the number of instances made sense a few years back. Now some users use multiple apps and accounts at the same time which is leading the manufacturers to add support for features like “dual app”. This feature is mainly made use by social media and messaging apps. Since the devices are more advanced in technology now, with users’ complicated browsing habits, such a feature for web browsers will be very much welcomed.
Google will start on with this feature on Chrome by the end of this year. Slash Gear reports that XDA has spotted some changes in the Chromium and Android source code that will enable a new version of the mobile browser with the above-mentioned feature. Once this feature is put into use, users can “move” a tab to a separate Chrome window. This will allow up to five Chrome windows to function at the same time. This will be available side-by-side in split-screen mode or even in the background. On each window, users can open up as many tabs as wanted. In the Android recent Apps overview, each window will be shown as a separate entry. This makes it similar to the desktop version of Chrome in terms of multi-tasking.
Many smartphones now come with virtual memory and this new feature on Chrome will fit in perfectly with the growing trends in the smartphone market. This new feature may also signal preparation for Google’s own foldable phones.
