Google Chrome is rolling out a handful of new features, including Split View, PDF annotations, and a “Save to Google Drive” feature, designed to more deeply integrate Chrome with Google Drive.
These additions come as the browser market is heating up with new AI-powered browsers from companies like OpenAI and Perplexity. Google already integrated its Gemini AI assistant into Chrome, and the new features are part of the company's efforts to stay competitive.
The Split View feature allows users to multitask in Chrome by putting two pages side-by-side in the same tab. The PDF annotations feature lets users add notes to a PDF or highlight its text from the browser, eliminating the need to download the PDF and open it in another application.
The Funding and Market Context
The Browser Company, a competitor to Google, has raised $50 million at a $550 million valuation. The company's AI browser, Dia, has been adding features from its alternative browser, Arc, including support for vertical tabs.
Google Chrome's new features are part of the company's efforts to give users fewer reasons to switch to alternative browsers. The update follows the expansion of Gemini and other agentic features to Chromebook users last month.
Product Details
The Save to Google Drive feature will allow users to save any PDF directly to their Google Drive account, instead of their computer. The saved files will appear in a “Saved from Chrome” folder in Google Drive, making them easy to find.
Google Chrome is also poised to adopt support for vertical tabs, a feature that was first spearheaded by its competitors. Tech-savvy users can even enable this option now, in an experimental phase, by changing a flag.
What This Means for the Industry
The browser wars are heating up, with new AI-powered browsers and features being released regularly. Google Chrome's new features are part of the company's efforts to stay competitive and give users more reasons to stick with the browser.
