Chrome Wants to Tell Websites How Powerful Your Device Is: Here’s Why It Matters

Google is floating a new proposal for Chrome that would let websites know how powerful your device is, so they can adjust what they show you. The idea sounds simple, but it comes with both benefits and privacy risks. This is a reminder that while Chrome sometimes boosts privacy, like blocking PiP videos in screenshots, this proposal raises the opposite concern.

The experiment, called the “CPU Performance API”, would give websites a general sense of how strong or weak your processor is and could work alongside the “Compute Pressure API”, which tells sites how busy your CPU currently is.

Chrome May Let Websites See Your Device Power: Here’s What That Means

Benefits:

Better experiences for everyone: Websites can customize themselves so games, video calls, and heavy apps don’t stutter or crash on weaker hardware.

Saves battery: By knowing your device’s limits, Chrome can help apps go easier on battery life.

Developers can optimize: App creators can adjust their web apps for more users, instead of relying on one-size-fits-all performance.

Downsides:

The flip side is privacy. Even without your exact device model, this kind of data makes it easier for websites to “fingerprint” you, a tracking method based on unique details about your device and habits. More information means it’s easier to follow users around the web.

We’ve seen this pattern before. Despite criticism, Chrome has already let sites know when you’re actively using your device, often used by chat apps to set your status. This shows Google is willing to give sites more insight, even when privacy questions are raised.

If the CPU Performance API moves forward, it could make web apps feel faster and smarter. But it also hands websites another way to peek into your device, and for privacy-minded users, that’s not something to ignore.

Apart from this, Chrome is boosting graphics on Qualcomm Snapdragon Windows PCs, and Google is redesigning the Search box on the Chrome New Tab Page.

Additionally, Chrome is testing Lens video citations and a one-click unsubscribe button for web notifications on desktop.