Google Chrome's latest Speedometer 3 score smashes old loading time records

What you need to know

• Google highlighted Chrome's browsing performance in a recent Speedometer 3 test, stating it achieved a score of 52.35, its highest yet.
• The post attributes this score to Google's updates, which have resulted in a 10% overall boost since 2024.
• Chrome's team has reportedly reworked how the browser uses a computer's CPU caches, reduced the number of "non-relevant" items, and updated how it utilizes Apple Advanced Typography technology for fonts.

Google says Chrome is fast, and just how fast it is reportedly saves users "millions" of hours when loading websites.

In a Chromium blog post today (June 5), Google announced that its browser, Chrome, has shattered its previous high score on the Speedometer 3 test. In short, this test puts Chrome on trial, seeing how well its "critical components" perform within the Blink rendering engine. In the recent 139 dev build test, which Chrome conducted on an Apple MacBook Pro M4 with iOS 15, the browser achieved a score of 52.35, its highest yet.

While this beats out how Chrome scored last year on the Speedometer 3 test, Google says this is all thanks to several additional optimizations.

It's not a huge number; however, Google states its optimizations have resulted in a 10% overall improvement for Chrome since August 2024. Google says this 10% boost could save all Chrome users roughly "58 million hours" when browsing, thanks to reduced website loading times.

To do this, the company says its Chrome team "focused on refining fundamental rendering paths across the entire stack." But achieving faster browsing speeds also meant Google needed to rethink how the browser leverages a computer's CPU caches.

Moreover, Chrome's improvements saw a major shift in how it optimized memory layouts. Google's team also reduced the number of "non-relevant" items Chrome caches. The post adds that an update to Chrome's usage of Apple Advanced Typography technology (for font shaping performance) speeds up the browser wherever text is.

Chrome's getting faster

Google Chrome has consistently worked on its browsing speed in recent history, and its stunning Speedometer 3 tests in 2024 were no exception. Since the benchmark debuted, Google said its browser improved by roughly 72%. What it highlighted last year was optimization for slower functions, which directly contributed to Chrome's overall speed increase.

Additionally, Google said Chrome was outfitted with better memory usage when drawing shapes while also cutting out "redundant" processes.

The latest test and the one from 2024 focused on computers, but that doesn't mean Android phones were left out, especially those with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite. A new version of Chrome, specifically enhanced for higher-end Android devices, doubled its old score on the Speedometer 2.1 test. There's no single way users will notice Chrome's improvements on mobile devices, as Google says these upgrades will affect all facets of browsing. Opening large documents should be a lot smoother and quicker, just to name an aspect.

With Qualcomm's latest flagship chip, Chrome on Android scored 33.3, blowing its old 18.4 score out of the water.

Regarding its recent test, Google says it will continue to enhance Chrome's browsing capabilities, and more updates will be on the way.