Innovation is key to staying ahead, standing out, and shaping the future. But sometimes, all people need is a simple redesign.
But not just some aesthetic change that is too plain or too gimmicky, because in many cases the most powerful of designs come from simplicity done right. And Google showcases this in its Chrome 135 release on Android.
For more than a long time, users of smartphones are restricted to that small screen of theirs. While smartphones do get bigger, the screen is just too small for a full-fledge experience.
To make sure than users can have all of their screen aesthetic for their viewing experience, but without compromising usability and navigation, Chrome 135 introduces an "edge-to-edge" layout.
Chrome is essentially updating how the gesture navigation bar appears over web pages.
Instead of displaying the gesture pill against a solid background, Chrome will now extend the webpage content all the way to the bottom edge of the screen, allowing the content to appear beneath the gesture handle.
This creates a more immersive, edge-to-edge browsing experience.
When users are actively scrolling, the gesture handle will float above the webpage, giving it a more seamless look.
However, when they're not scrolling—and the address bar reappears at the top—the familiar solid background behind the gesture handle will return.
To make this happen, Chrome is introducing what it calls the “dynamic bottom bar,” playfully dubbed “the chin" by Google.
This bar overlays the gesture navigation area, and both the Chrome address bar and chin will now dynamically retract as users scroll down.
The effect? The viewport expands, allowing web content to gracefully reach the very bottom edge of the screen.
While this update doesn’t actually reveal more of the page, it’s a sleek step forward in modernizing both Chrome and Android's UI experience.
That said, the status bar—which holds the notification and system icons—remains untouched.
This design update isn't not the full edge-to-edge. But still, the change is a good Chrome and Android modernization.