Starting in September, Google changed its release schedule, beginning to make a final version of Chrome available every two weeks. Previously, new releases occurred at four-week intervals.
This modification primarily aims to strengthen the browser's security. Google had announced this bi-weekly update cycle in March of this year. With this cadence, security fixes will be applied more quickly, reducing the period during which the browser remains vulnerable to flaws.
The company itself clarifies that reducing the interval between publishing a fix in the codebase and delivering it to end-users minimizes the 'N-day' patch gap—the time between discovering a vulnerability and fixing it—aiding defense against constantly evolving threats. Ben Mason and Deepak Ravichandran, both from Google, signed this explanation.
The new methodology was introduced with Chrome 153, officially released on September 8. The next version, 154, is scheduled for release on September 22. This bi-weekly cycle will be maintained in the following months, covering both mobile (iOS and Android) and desktop versions.
For large corporations, Google maintains the offer of Chrome through the 'Extended Stable' channel. In this channel, larger update packages are distributed in eight-week cycles, giving organizations sufficient time to test and implement the new features. However, the most critical fixes continue to be released weekly.
Although the new cycle might potentially speed up the arrival of new features in the browser in the future, the main focus of the change lies in security. This becomes crucial in a scenario where Artificial Intelligence is used to identify or exploit vulnerabilities, requiring mitigation to be equally or more agile.
Additionally, Google recently implemented another layer of protection in the browser: a system designed to protect Chrome against account theft.