Back then on November 2014 Google announced it’s Android 5.0 Lollipop, the first Android version to support 64-bit architecture. From then more and more 64-bit processors shipped and today almost every device is capable of running 64-bit applications.
However Google Chrome never jumped into 64-bit architecture it’s only available in 32-bit flavor possibly leading to unnecessary security issues and performance degradations, That’s finally changing as Chrome decided to jumpstart into its 64-bit architecture starting with Chrome 85. Android devices running on 10 and above will get an automatic update for the 64-bit version.
According to AP’s testing, the new apps offer much better performance than the current app.
Android’s transition to 64-bit has been a long time coming. Support for 64-bit has been present for 6 years, and while Apple dropped support for 32-bit apps in iOS in 2017, Google has lagged behind. In 2017, Google started requiring apps that utilize native libraries must have a 64-bit alternative. As mentioned, it’s not actively punishing apps without 64-bit support until August 2021.
Chrome 85 is scheduled to go stable in August, giving them a year to fully roll it out to more Android versions before the 2021 deadline.
