Google is accelerating the development and release cycle of Chrome. Starting in September 2026, a new stable version of the browser will be released every two weeks, compared to every four weeks currently.
According to the developers behind Chrome, the change is in line with the increasingly rapid development of the web platform. New features, bug fixes, and performance improvements should therefore become available more quickly to both end users and developers.
The current four-week cycle has been in place since 2021. At the time, this already represented an acceleration compared to the previous six-week schedule. In 2023, the Chrome team also added weekly security updates to close vulnerabilities more quickly. An early stable release was also introduced to improve the quality of releases before they are rolled out widely.
With the switch to a biweekly cycle, Google wants to further accelerate the pace of innovation. At the same time, the company expects the impact of individual updates to be smaller. Because each release contains fewer changes, any problems should be easier to diagnose and resolve. According to the developers, recent improvements in the development process make it possible to combine this faster pace with the same stability standards as before.
New cycle starts with Chrome 153
The new cycle will start with Chrome 153. The stable version of that release is scheduled for September 8, 2026. From that point on, new beta and stable versions will be released every two weeks. The schedule applies to all platforms on which Chrome is available, including desktop, Android, and iOS. Nothing will change for the Dev and Canary channels.
For organizations that need more time to test updates, the Extended Stable channel will continue to exist. That channel was introduced in 2021 and has an eight-week release cycle. According to Google, this schedule will remain unchanged, so enterprise administrators and parties that integrate Chromium will not have to adjust their update processes.
According to The Register, Google emphasizes in its documentation for business users that the biweekly updates are also the safest option. Organizations that consider security more important than the extra effort involved in update management are advised to use this faster cycle. At the same time, the biweekly beta versions give companies earlier insight into upcoming changes. This should help them identify potential issues with SaaS services or internal web applications in advance.
A different approach will continue to apply to Chromebooks. New Chrome versions will only be rolled out after they have been extensively tested on the platform. The channels for ChromeOS will be adapted to the new biweekly browser cycle, although Google says that further details about the schedule for managed devices will follow later.
Developers can continue to follow the schedule of upcoming releases and new features via the Chrome Status Roadmap and the Chromium Dashboard. As usual, a beta version will be released approximately three weeks before a stable release becomes available, giving developers time to test their websites and applications for potential compatibility issues.