Microsoft Edge is now natively available on Apple M1 devices

Microsoft Edge Apple M1
(Image credit: Shutterstock / monticello)

Microsoft announced back in November that native support would be coming for its flagship web browser Edge for devices running Apple’s new M1 chip. From December 17, this is now live and available for public download.

This is just one of many redesigned software updates being rolled out for the Arm-powered Apple devices, such as the Microsoft 365 apps and Adobe Create Cloud suite.

With the launch of the Arm-based silicon back on November 10 2020 in the new MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and Mac mini, has come a rush for software providers to release M1-native builds in a bid to prevent obsolescence on these next-gen chipsets. 

Microsoft Edge on Apple M1 Macs

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Microsoft joins the likes of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox by offering native browser support across the new line of Apple hardware, as confirmed by the official Microsft Edge Dev Twitter channel. Whilst not as popular as its rival, Edge has gained a dedicated following over recent years due to service improvements and feature updates.

You could previously run the Microsoft browser using emulation such as Rosetta for macOS and Windows on Arm via translation. Whilst this works in a pinch, native support is much better optimized and will prevent any drop in performance.

If you wanted to download the browser for yourself then head on over to the Microsoft Insider Canary channel. Find the download link here.

For future Microsoft based updates, it's worth taking part in closed preview builds to improve performance and give feedback on new features. You can learn more about the insider program on the Insider website.

Via MSPoweruser

Jess Weatherbed

Jess is a former TechRadar Computing writer, where she covered all aspects of Mac and PC hardware, including PC gaming and peripherals. She has been interviewed as an industry expert for the BBC, and while her educational background was in prosthetics and model-making, her true love is in tech and she has built numerous desktop computers over the last 10 years for gaming and content creation. Jess is now a journalist at The Verge.