Google stops supporting Chrome for Android 4.0

Google says it will stop updating its Chrome browser for Android 4.0 next month. The reason is, among other things, the declining share of the mobile operating system, the developer announced on Tuesday.

Google reports in a blog post that Chrome 42 is the last version of its browser for Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich. That version will be released in April and will not be updated after that. Other Android operating systems will not notice this change.

According to Google, the reason for Chrome’s no longer supporting Ice Cream Sandwich is twofold. Firstly, the share of devices with the operating system is decreasing. In addition, according to Google, by supporting multiple versions, the code would become so complex that it would have consequences for performance and development time.

This is not the first time that Google has stopped supporting older versions of Android software. In January, it turned out that the internet giant no longer fixes problems in the stock browser of certain versions. The cause would be an outdated version of the engine, which would now differ too much from the last branch. As a result, when bugs are discovered, a lot of code must be modified to fix the problems, according to Google.