Google Chrome for Android tests carousel for New Tab Page, dynamic colors in Material You design

Google is expanding its Material You design to its Google Chrome for Android browser. Material You design was first introduced with Android 13, and this year at Google I/O, the company announced that the new thematic elements will be added to more applications to bring them up to the Android 14 design standards. Now, Google has begun testing two specific design-led features for Chrome for Android — a new carousel for New Tab Page and dynamic color tweaks to the overall browser. The dynamic color tweaks are in line with Android’s new design language.

According to a report by 9to5Google, the New Tab Page is getting an important design change. The carousel placed underneath the Google Search bar on the page will be improved to fit with the Material You design. Earlier, opening a new page on the browser would show the carousel which contained 8 favicons arranged in a 4x2 grid in a rectangular space. Recently, the rectangle was given rounded edges (as opposed to straight edges) and a thicker search bar. But now, more changes are being introduced to the carousel.

“Chrome 120 is now testing a version of the New Tab Page where the favicons are housed in a carousel with four to five visible at a time,” said the report. With this new change, the carousel can house up to 11 favicons.

Google Chrome for Android gets design-led changes

The under-testing changes have not proven to be popular as some reports are calling it “unnecessary” and “poorly managed space”. The main complaint comes from those who do not use the Discover feature and find that saved space lies empty for them. Additionally, some users are also not fond of the extra scrolling action they will have to do in order to get to the favicon they want.

Interestingly, Google Chrome last explored this idea last year but had abandoned it at the time. The reason for the same is not known.

Another change is coming to Google Chrome for Android Tablets. The status bar above the tab strip (the topmost space where time, battery status, wifi connection, etc. is seen) used to be just the color black earlier. But now, under the Material You design, it is getting a tweak and will show the dynamic color of the browser to give a more unified appearance.