Microsoft's latest update gives Edge a speed boost
What's the story
Microsoft has announced a major improvement in the speed of its Edge browser. The company revealed that it now takes less than 300 milliseconds for Edge to start rendering the first parts of a website, be it text, images or UI elements. This metric is known as First Contentful Paint (FCP), which Google introduced in its Chrome browser back in 2017.
User experience
Microsoft hopes to boost Edge's appeal with these improvements
Microsoft says that "industry research shows that waiting longer than 300 to 400ms for the initial content can significantly impact user satisfaction." The company hopes these improvements will make Edge more appealing to users. Currently, Edge has a global browser market share of less than 5%, while Chrome dominates with a whopping 68%.
Performance upgrades
Improvements part of transition to faster WebUI 2.0 architecture
The latest improvements come as part of Microsoft's ongoing efforts to transition Edge's user interface to a faster WebUI 2.0 architecture. This shift is aimed at "minimizing the size of our code bundles, and the amount of JavaScript code that runs during the initialization of the UI." In February, Microsoft had also revealed that Edge's downloads, history and creation of new private browsing tabs were on average about 40% faster.
Future upgrades
More performance upgrades coming for Edge in the future
In addition to the current enhancements, Microsoft also plans to introduce more performance improvements for Edge in the coming months. These will cover features like Print Preview and Extensions. The company has already delivered similar performance upgrades for 13 other browser features, including settings that are more responsive, split screen with "near-instant navigation and less loading delays," and smoother playback for its AI-powered Read aloud feature focused on accessibility.