64-bit Chrome for OS X spotted in Canary and Dev beta channels

About two months after issuing the first 64-bit Chrome beta builds to Windows users, Google has introduced 64-bit support to the OS X version of the Chrome beta as well. The change was first spotted by iClarified, and we downloaded the Canary version of Chrome to confirm for ourselves. Chrome's Canary channel is the least stable of all the release channels, and it's often where new or experimental features make their first appearance. The Dev channel, also early and unstable but updated less frequently and therefore less tumultuous, has been updated with 64-bit support as well.

64-bit Chrome builds for Windows were accompanied by an announcement on the Chromium blog, but no such release accompanied the OS X release. One assumes that the advantages for Mac users are similar to those for Windows users. Google claims that compiler optimizations and newer instruction sets inherent to 64-bit CPUs should improve speed, improved ASLR support and better heap partitioning should improve security, and (when the build goes stable) the browser should suffer from fewer crashes than 32-bit Chrome.

The current stable build of Chrome is version 36, which was released in mid-July. The 64-bit Windows build of Chrome, recently bumped from the Canary channel to the Beta channel, is version 37, while the 64-bit OS X build is version 38. Chrome's six-week release cycle means that, barring some kind of show-stopping bug, 64-bit Chrome should come to the stable Chrome channel for Windows users in early September and to OS X users in mid-October. In the meantime, the work-in-progress Canary Chrome betas are available here. Install them at your own risk.