Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge will adopt the same four-week update schedule as Google Chrome

Ben Schoon | Mar 12 2021 - 1:38 pm PT

Starting this September, updates to Microsoft Edge are set to speed up. Following in the footsteps of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge will adopt a new update schedule that drops updates every four weeks.

In a brief article posted today, Microsoft confirmed that it would switch Edge over to the new update schedule that was announced for Chrome earlier this month. The new schedule, as Google mentioned, allows for faster rollouts for new features and quicker security and bug fixes as well.

Microsoft says that this change will take effect with the release of Edge version 94 which, according to a public schedule, is set to be released in beta during the week of September 1 and in the stable channel during the week of September 23. That’s roughly the same timeline Google is targeting, with Chrome 94 also being the first release on the four-week cycle. A preliminary schedule puts Google’s change at September 21 for a stable release. Microsoft is also offering the same “Extended Stable” eight-week cycle to customers with managed environments that Google is.

Starting with Stable channel version 94, Microsoft Edge is moving to a 4-week major release cycle cadence. However, we recognize that enterprise customers who manage complex environments need more time to plan and test Microsoft Edge updates. To help our enterprise customers who need an extended timeline to manage updates, Microsoft Edge will offer an Extended Stable option aligned to a longer, eight-week major release cycle; this option will only be available for customers with managed environments.

Of course, this comes as no surprise. Like Google’s browser, Microsoft Edge has its core in Chromium, as do many other browsers. Any Chromium-based browser that doesn’t adopt this new schedule will quickly be left on different version numbers compared to Chrome, leaving them potentially behind on features as well. Apparently, Brave is another Chromium browser switching to the new schedule, so they told the Verge.