What just happened? Microsoft says it's working hard to make Edge one of the fastest browsers available. The company announced a major UI overhaul in 2024 and is now adding a number of new features built on its updated rendering framework.
Despite remaining a distant second in the Windows desktop browser market, Microsoft Edge is seeing meaningful performance improvements. Microsoft recently announced that the Chromium-based browser now delivers a faster, more responsive interface, though actual user experiences may still vary.
To highlight the speed boost, Microsoft pointed to a relatively obscure performance metric: First Contentful Paint. This metric measures how quickly visual elements of the browser UI appear on screen. Thanks to recent code optimizations, Edge now achieves a global FCP under 300 milliseconds.
According to Microsoft, industry research shows that delays beyond 300 to 400 milliseconds for initial content display can negatively impact the user experience. Now that Edge has crossed this threshold, its core interface elements load almost instantly, and user content such as web pages and documents should appear much faster as well.
Since February 2025, Edge users have benefited from an average 40 percent reduction in content loading times. Microsoft highlights 13 distinct features impacted by this performance boost, including the browser's Settings page, the AI-based Read Aloud feature, and Split Screen. Workspaces have also become more responsive and intuitive, offering a smoother productivity experience overall.
Microsoft says the journey toward a faster Edge isn't over. More performance upgrades are expected in the coming months, targeting a broader range of features.
While the company is doubling down on speed, it's also continuing to integrate new AI tools, though some users may find these additions burdensome and detrimental to the overall UI experience.
On a technical level, Edge's performance gains are largely driven by Microsoft's ongoing WebUI 2.0 initiative. This modular interface framework is designed to streamline the Edge codebase by reducing the amount of JavaScript executed during UI initialization. Unlike the current monolithic structure – where many components share common bundles even when unnecessary – WebUI 2.0 aims to isolate and optimize UI elements for faster, more efficient loading.